You've got to be Kidding
by StrawberryBats
Summary: Getting hit by a car wasn't really the highlight of Nico's night, but waking up in the hospital did have its' benefits. Meanwhile, she might not believe in magic, but apparently werewolves are just real enough to fluster and annoy one Maki Nishikino. Nozomi just hopes they don't get sick of each other before meeting all her other friends.[Supernatural au of sorts. Happy halloween!]
1. Chapter 1

Something was beeping right in her ear. She was positive she hadn't set an alarm last night, but the noise persisted. _Beep. Beep. Beep._ Nico rolled over and covered her head with a pillow.

It was muffled, but still easily audible. _Beep. Beep. Beep._

She rolled over again, sticking an arm out of her bed to attempt to punch the offending clockwork, but it wasn't as close as she usually thought it was. Actually, she couldn't feel her nightstand at all –

"That's not an alarm, you know." A clear voice cut through her confusion, and Nico finally gave up on returning to sleep and cracked her eyes open, only to lock them with the source of the voice only seconds later. She had amethyst eyes, as clear as her voice. "That's a heart monitor. Because you're in the hospital."

The black-haired girl jolted up in bed, ignoring the other girl (probably a doctor, if she took a moment to think about it)'s complaints. White sheets, white walls, IV – yes, she was in a hospital alright, but – "How did I get here?!" Why did she have a heart monitor?! After a brief panic she realized it wasn't hers; it was coming from someone else's side of the room.

The doctor (or nurse, maybe? She looked young, Nico noted absently. Not like the old geezer she usually got check-ups with. Would it be possible to switch doctors? Wait, get back on track!) sighed and ran a hand through her dark, red hair. "Yes, that's exactly the question we've all been dying to ask. We think you were hit by a car, but nobody reported you lying in the street until hours after the incident must have occurred. You're lucky you didn't bleed out."

She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, like it would help her remember. Yes, she was hit by a car. She remembered that much, it was the whole 'getting to the hospital' part that worried her. Her memories of the night were slowly returning. "I…Yes, I was hit by a car." The dark-haired girl glanced away from the doctor, unwilling to meet her eyes. "I don't blame them though. It was dark, I'm small. They must not have known they hit me."

"W-wait a minute!" The redhead exclaimed, apparently unnerved. "You're just completely okay with being hit by a car?"

Nico flushed, that had sounded strange even to herself when she said it. Time to save face. "I'm not _completely_ okay with it, but I wouldn't have the money to press charges _and_ pay the hospital bill, so I guess whoever it is got off easy, huh?!" She shouted stubbornly, crossing her arms. It wasn't a _lie_.

Thankfully, she seemed to accept that answer. "O-oh. My apologies, then…If you don't mind, I'd like to check your injuries. You suffered a concussion, minor wounds to the head, and a few breaks in your left leg. Thankfully, nothing will need stitches." She groaned, but let the doctor check. This would all be over by the end of the day anyways. Not to mention, she'd let this particular doctor do whatever she wanted – was it improper patient etiquette to ask for her number?

While she examined her, the redhead was talking. "Since nobody nearby identified you, we don't have any good records. Would you mind giving the hospital your information later?"

"Sure." She said absently. "Need anything right now?"

"Could you give me your name?" The doctor asked, adjusting the blankets and carefully unwrapping the bandage on her head.

The girl winced but kept complying. "Nico Yazawa. Can I have yours?"

"Maki Nishikino – I'm a nurse, but don't worry, an actual doctor is the one that looked you over." Oh, so she _was_ a nurse. In retrospect, she did look a little young to have gotten a bachelor's degree, but she looked so assured of herself that Nico might've believed it if she'd said she was the doctor. The redhead continued with the questions. "Emergency contact?"

Nico shifted a little, maybe interfering with the exam, but she didn't care much, too preoccupied with rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "Umm….I have one, but she doesn't have a phone yet."

Maki looked up dubiously. "What do you mean 'yet'? Has your contact's phone been broken for a long time? You should really pick someone else until we can contact her more easily."

"N-no, I mean, she's never had one yet. My sister, um….she's twelve. I don't have anyone else to contact though. You can usually get her or one of my other siblings from the home phone, so I guess all three of them are my emergency contacts..?" She explained, flustered. God, this was such a weak excuse. What could she say? She didn't go to hospitals often. Especially not hospitals with really cute n- she shook her head. This was the last time she'd be seeing her, best not to complete that thought.

That reply somehow struck a nerve with the nurse though. "A twelve year old is your emergency contact!? Miss Yazawa, of all the irresponsible –"

"Hello? I'm here for the patient you couldn't identify. She's Nico Yazawa, and I'm a friend from school."

"..things….to do….." Maki slowed to a stop, looking up curiously at the stranger. "Do you know her, miss?" She asked hesitantly, and Nico looked to the side, trying to figure out just who exactly thought they could barge in on her while she was hospitalized.

Standing patiently at the doorway, as if waiting for an invitation, was a woman with long purple hair pulled into two ponytails. Nico would admit, with some shame, that yes, she knew her, and had not spoken to her since they graduated about three years ago.

She was pretty bad at keeping in touch.

Seeing that Nozomi was still at the doorway, Nico shook her head and looked to the nurse. "Um, yes, I do know her. I'm not sure what she's _doing here_ ," She said, casting a side glance to the girl, who was now approaching, "but I know her."

"Good. Maybe you can ask someone your own age to be your emergency contact then." She replied dryly, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"H-hey! I'll have you know my sister is an _extremely reliable_ twelve year old, okay?!"

Nozomi giggled. "If I knew I was replacing her I would have tried a little harder to look responsible."

Nico groaned. "Nobody is replacing anybody! I'm sure Nozomi doesn't have the time to be randomly called over here if I get into an accident, can we just move this along?! I need to get back to the house."

"I don't mind being your emergency contact." She said breezily. "In fact, I feel like you'll be needing someone to drive you home since your leg is all busted up….unless, of course, your extremely reliable _ten year old_ sister can do that. In which case, I'll be out of here in –"

"Quit teasing me and just help me get out of this hospital already, Toujou…and Cocoro is _twelve_ now, thank you very much…." She grumbled.

The taller girl just grinned and started talking with the nurse about it, while Nico tuned them out.

How exactly had she been hit by a car last night? She thought she was being careful. Her sisters were supposed to keep the door locked, and Cotarou was even sleeping in the living room so she couldn't sneak past them.

While she puzzled over that, the other two seemed to have finished their conversation – the nurse was handing her crutches, and Nozomi was looking at her expectantly. She heaved a sigh of relief and gratefully accepted the help, noting that it did, in fact, hurt to put weight on her left leg.

Nozomi helped her out of the building after she filled out the forms they needed to keep record for her.

Once they got into the car, though, she seemed oddly serious. Or at least, more serious than usual, because Nozomi was rarely a serious person - at least, judging from their interactions in high school. She turned around in the front seat to look at Nico, who as in the back. "I came because I saw you get hit last night." She said, a bit abruptly.

"What?" Nico asked, incredulously. "No way you saw me get hit, nobody was there. It was too dark, couldn't have seen it."

"There was a streetlight." She replied, without batting an eyelash. "I was walking around with someone and I saw the car hit something…someone, to be more specific."

The black-haired girl tried not to look worried. She failed. "I swear, I'm sure nobody was around. What street were you on?"

"The same one they found you on, if the woman at the front desk is to be believed." Nozomi shot back. "I would have called it in, but I don't know the number for animal control, and I thought it'd be rude to interrupt your night like that."

"Oh, that explains it! You must have seen a stray dog get hit or something." She laughed nervously. "No, it was later at night than that. You have great intuition, though!"

"A stray dog with the same bright red eyes as cute little Nico? Unlikely." She tapped the shorter girl on the nose. "I win."

Nico grimaced. Okay, shit, this would be a little harder to weasel out of. Especially since she'd already let slip that Nozomi was right about the street. And the werewolf thing. Shit, she was so boned. "S-so what? Who would believe that story? Who could you tell?"

As if all the tension had dissipated, the other girl just settled back into her seat and gave her a cheeky grin. "Nobody! I was just worried that you were in trouble! You _did_ get hit by a car, you know. Clumsy werewolves aren't long for this world."

She blinked. "W-wait, really?"

Nozomi smiled again. "I'm pretty well-versed in the supernatural, Nico, I know that would end poorly for you. But it's dangerous to be alone, too –" She cut herself off, taking on a softer expression. She sounded more concerned than cheeky. "You still haven't told anyone, have you?"

"I'm never really in the mood to be lynched." She muttered. "So it's not your business who I have and haven't told. My family knows, and that's all _you_ need to know. I'll be fine."

"…Suit yourself." The other girl said, after a moment's pause.

And then she started the car.

There was a few minutes of companionable silence before Nico had to break it. "So….now that we've established the whole werewolf thing, can I ask you something?"

"Hm?"

" _Why_ does your car smell so funny?"

She snickered a little, but didn't actually answer. Nico decided she'd rather not know.

When she finally arrived, her younger siblings all rushed to the door as soon as she turned the lock. Nico gave Nozomi a grateful smile for driving her, and the purple-haired girl waved it off and said to call her sometime if she wanted her fortune told, or if she wanted dog treats. She glared at her for the last part, but when Nozomi just laughed it off, it was obvious that no amount of grouchiness was going to kick her out of her life again.

It was hard not to like her for that.

She suppressed a wince when Cocoa ran right into her bad leg, and when Cocoro told her off for it, she decided they'd step inside and settle the matter of who unlocked the door for her so that they would stop arguing about that.

Cocoro claimed it must have been their brother, but when asked, he just pointed back at the second oldest. "Opened it."

"I did not!"

"Opened it."

"Niiiicooooo, tell him I didn't open the door!" She whined.

"Did you?" The eldest sibling pressed.

She looked undecided for a moment. "Well…..yes, but he doesn't need to know that!"

Cocoro ended up getting five minutes worth of tickle torture for unlocking the door, but at least by the end of it everyone was smiling. Things could stay this way for a long time.

* * *

Things did not stay that way for a long time. Nico went to bed on the couch that night, forgoing her perfectly respectable bed for staying up and binge watching some awful medical drama TV show. She supposed she must have thought it would be ironic after spending the morning in the hospital? Whatever the case, she recalled finally falling asleep after flicking it off, dissatisfied with the casting. Not to mention her nose was still totally clogged with that smell from Nozomi's car.

Seriously, what the hell did she do in there to cause such a stench? It wasn't necessarily _bad_ , but it clung to everything like incense residue, so she must have gotten some on her clothes or something. She remembered making a mental note to do laundry the next day, then falling asleep on the couch instead anyways.

Instead of waking up with a sore back on the floor or the couch, she woke up with a sore back, no cast, and a loosely tied piece of rope around her neck.

 _Fuck_.

She grimaced, and quickly untied the rope tethering her to what looked to be a fencepost. That was just embarrassing. Was she in someone's _backyard_? Uuuugghhhhh.

Since the sun had just come up, she was guessing she'd just gone for a little unplanned romp. It happened, but…still. Ugh. Nico began the (painful) process of hefting herself over the fence, broken leg and all. She had just barely gotten halfway over it when something stunned her out of her concentration.

"Wh-what the hell?!"

Double fuck.

Nico yelped as her descent down the fence sped up twofold and she fell face first onto the other side of it, only barely avoiding snapping her neck in the process by angling herself to the side and landing on that instead. The left side, unfortunately. She hissed in pain as her leg punished her for her poor directional sense.

There were footsteps, fast footsteps, running to the gate to catch her. Nico tried to work out where she'd heard the voice before. Last night, it would seem, but also…..

Her eyes widened, and she looked up just in time to see none other than her nurse from the day before running towards her.

 _Shit, shit shit shit shit –_

"Why were you in my backyard?!" She demanded, grabbing the smaller girl by the collar of her shirt.

Nico, recalling the way Nozomi had identified her, kept her eyes shut tight and stammered out an answer. "I-I heard a dog barking, a-and thought it was hurt," she said, gritting her teeth as Maki lifted her further. "It jumped the fence when I tried to look at its' leg, so I was going to chase after it."

"Bull. Shit." Maki growled. Nico whimpered. "I didn't hear any barking. Why were you _actually_ in my backyard? Where did the dog actually go?"

She fought the temptation to open her eyes. "Uh – Umm…..I…ahhh…..I'm looking for my dog and I thought it was the one in your yard! Big, black fur, slight limp? She r-ran away last night and someone told me you had her!"

The nurse seemed incredibly dissatisfied with the answer, but she at least allowed Nico to stand up on her own. "You're the car crash girl from yesterday. Are you stalking me?"

"Don't flatter yourself, princess!" She snapped, finally opening her eyes. It was too tempting. "How would I even know where you live?"

Maki narrowed her eyes. "Really? I'd think the whole mansion thing is pretty hard to miss. My family is pretty high profile, and I did give you my last name."

"For the last time, I was _not_ stalking you! Get over yourself! You're the one that put me in your stupid backyard in the first place!"

"Wait, what the..?"

The black-haired girl cringed at her own lack of tact. She could still save this, she could still save this, she could still - "Uh…don't listen to me, I'm off my meds..?" she tried weakly.

She was _so_ fucked.

Apparently that registered with Maki too, and her own eyes widened when she finally realized the other place she'd seen Nico's. " _You're_ the dog?!"

"I'm not a dog, you were hallucinating. And the term is _werewolf_. _Wolf_. Big, scary, totally not something you _tie to a fence in your backyard_." She said irritably. Nico made a dismissive gesture. "Go back to bed. It was all a dream!" She made jazz hands to go along with the gesture.

Maki frowned.

She huffed. "Just go back to bed already, dammit!"

* * *

Five minutes later she was in Maki's house holding an icepack up to her new black eye. "Why does the world hate me…?" She muttered lamely, falling onto her back on the couch dramatically. "Whatever did poor, sweet Nico do to deserve such _suffering_?"

"How about follow me to my house and let me pity-feed you a bunch of my food?" Maki cut in, and the other girl resisted the urge to throw a pillow at her.

"Ugh. If I had any idea at the time that you were this awful, believe me, I would _not_ have followed you. I was supposed to be nice and cozy in my own bed this morning, not tied to your fence like a misbehaving corgi."

"And yet, there you were." She said flatly. "Look, I'm really skeptical on this whole werewolf business in the first place, and the only reason I believe it right now is because I'm _positive_ that if you were lying, you'd have better excuses."

She crossed her arms. "How do you know I'm not lying? I could be a clinically depressed schizophrenic who forgot to take her medications the night before and deluded myself into thinking –"

Maki flashed a picture on her phone of a rather large, black canine with red eyes. Nico stared at it. "Please get rid of that."

"Why?"

In response, Nico pulled her own phone out and dialed home. After two rings, the older of her two sisters picked up, and Nico put the phone on speaker. "Big sis?"

She sighed dramatically, while Maki rolled her eyes. "Not for much longer, I'm afraid. I got caught last night, and now the scary evil scientists are going to take me apart. Tell Cotarou and Cocoa that I loved them."

It took all of four seconds for the three of them to be wailing on the other end of the phone, and Nico handed it to Maki with a smug grin. "I'd be devastated too if I lost such an incredibly talented, caring older sist-"

"You made your point already." The redhead grumbled. "I was so _not_ going to call some 'evil scientists' on you, this isn't a shitty Halloween special. Calm the kids down already, would you?"

She nodded, and it took around ten minutes, but eventually all three of her siblings had settled down to the point of just sniffling. "Please remember to lock the door next time, or it could happen for real, okay?"

A sniffled response, and then she hung up.

"So, now that we've settled that…..Can I go?" She asked hopefully.

"Not a chance." Maki said flatly.

Nico stiffened. "What the hell, you said you wouldn't tell anyone!"

"I never said I was _telling_ , I just want answers. Werewolves didn't exist until this morning, of course I want to know what the hell is going on."

She groaned. "Explaining is so boooooorrriiiiiiing…"

The taller girl deadpanned at her. "What a shame. If it's too much for you to handle, I guess I could always call some of those scary scientists you mentioned to do it for you."

Nico swallowed. "You're cold, you know that?"

She seemed a little put out, but crossed her arms. "I know, but if you don't tell me the curiosity is going to _kill_ me, okay?"

"And me, apparently." Nico grumbled snarkily. Dumb nurse and her dumb science friends and her dumb curiosity and her dumb cute hair –

"Good point, it's a low blow, but could you _please_ just get on with it already?"

"Right." Stirred from her thoughts, she took a deep breath and contemplated where to begin. "Uh, so….werewolves." Great start. "Ummm…I'm pretty awesome, is basically what it sums down to, but that would've been true regardless of any shapeshifting talents." Maki gave her a look that told her she should probably get on with the actual technical parts and stop bragging.

Nervously, she decided to skip over that part of the intro. "Fine, I'll stop. Um, once a month, under the full moon, turn into a wolf, blah blah blah, everyone knows that bit, it's boring. The difference between me and movie werewolves is – um, there's a shitload, but basically it's not restricted to the whole 'once a month, light of the moon blah blah horror movie, you know the drill' type of thing, y'know? That's the one I'd expect you to get all hung up on. It happens….whenever, really. By accident or by choice. Not during the daylight, but I could make that happen if I felt like it." Seeing the look the redhead was giving her, she quickly added: "Which I don't. Ever. So don't ask."

"So you know what you're doing when you're not a human?" She asked skeptically, pretending she wasn't even a little upset with the fact that there would be no demonstrations again.

"Well, if you want to get _technical_ , I'm really never a human –" She shut up. Maki was good at glaring.

"Okay, okay, answer the question…" Nico laughed nervously while she tried to put it into words. "Umm….yes and no? I mean, technically you'd know what you were doing while you're drunk, but you sure as hell wouldn't know _why you did it_ once you were sober again." She huffed. "Most of the time it takes me a bit to remember what I was doing, so that's why I was so confused about being in your yard."

The redhead blinked. "Huh. That…actually makes a lot of sense. So, it's sort of like being under the influence or something? You….you don't attack anyone, right?" Something twisted painfully; she got the idea she knew what Maki was _really_ asking: _You're not_ _ **dangerous**_ , _right?_

"Of course not! I'm better than that!" She defended quickly. Nico was the _hero,_ and this was a _superpower_ , and anyone who disagreed would be wrong.

Maki seemed to realize she'd struck a nerve. "I'm sorry, I was just asking."

Still mildly offended, but running out of steam, Nico continued a bit more quietly. "I'm never – I don't think I'd ever get _violent_ or anything, or like, run off into the woods and eat stillborn children or whatever – it'd be really strange if I actually did something bad. From what I understand, usually I just run around and eat gross shit?" She shrugged. "The point is, if I thought it was a good idea to poke my nose in your yard last night, I promise it's nothing I'd be thinking about right now. I must've been hungry or something."

"You didn't do anything weird, it was rude of me to ask that." Maki said, and Nico stopped fidgeting, just a little. "Can I ask how it happened? I mean, is it a virus, or just hereditary, or…?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot you were a doctor, heheh." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Of course you'd want to know that part. Uh, truthfully, I've got no idea. I can't remember how I got it, but I know that my siblings don't turn into wolves, so that's good. I think something must've happened when I was little, but I'm not sure what, and I really don't think taking a big old chomp out of someone's arm and finding out if they 'turn' is a good idea. Nobody deserves it." She provided a cheeky grin for the next part. "I'm content just leaving it alone and being glad that whatever started it didn't come back and kill me!"

Surprisingly, that got a little laugh out of the redhead too. Nico thought it might be the first time she'd seen the other girl looking amused, but something struck her as familiar about it. Déjà vu, maybe? Maybe she saw it last night…? "Yeah, I think that's a good plan."

"Any other questions? I kinda have to get home soon."

Maki twirled a strand of her hair, looking a bit anxious all of a sudden. "Yes, but, disregarding those, there might be…a _slight_ problem." Oh, joy. Nico looked at her expectantly, raising an eyebrow. It must have something to do with her if she was telling her this, right? The redhead cleared her throat. "Well, I maybe, sort of, scheduled an appointment….with a vet…..because I thought you were a dog?" She said slowly, still twirling her hair and avoiding eye contact.

"You _what_." Nico cringed at the thought of it. "No way, not going, I am _not_ -"

"I'm _sorry_ , okay? Your leg is still broken and I thought I was helping! Excuse me for not knowing you were a person!" Maki defended.

"Can't you _cancel_ or something?" She asked, incredulously. "I don't want to go to the _vet!_ "

"It's like half an hour from now! It's too late to cancel!"

They went back and forth like that until, very, _very_ reluctantly, Nico gave up. "Whatever. I'm not going to waste their time like that, but I'm still going to hate every second of it, you hear me?!" Maki nodded guiltily. "Give me a second to tell my sister I'll be late…." She grumbled.

Once that was overwith, she skulked over to the bathroom. "Where are you going?"

"To get changed." Secretly, she was actually really glad she got to use that pun. She'd been sitting on it for like, five years.

Unfortunately, Maki didn't even seem to catch it. Damn doctors and their damn _dense_ , _thick skulls_ that can't even realize when an _incredible_ pun had just taken place and – ugh, best to forget it and just get started on the whole werewolf thing.

* * *

 **AN: Happy halloween! Again, haha. I'm gonna continue this later, but I thought halloween might be a good time to publish it. I love spooky AUs. Not that this is particularly spooky, but I at least got to put monsters n' stuff in. Next chapter I'll probably introduce the second years, but it'll be from Maki's perspective because Nico is gonna need some bed rest for that broken leg. Might have a few other ships, but for right now it's just Nicomaki and Nozoeli. I guess if anyone reads this they can suggest the other ones? I might just go to the default popular ships, haha. All that said, thanks for reading! See you soon, hopefully.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Troublesome_.

That just about summed up Maki's thoughts on the matter. The redhead drummed her fingers on the coffee table while she waited for the other girl – the _werewolf_ – to finish doing whatever it was she had to do to be ready for the vet.

She huffed in irritation at the thought. Werewolves, seriously? This was the last time she helped a stray dog. What was next, _vampires_? She'd worked too hard getting good grades for her life to suddenly become a terrible fantasy novel.

Even if, just a little, it was fascinating…..it was still too much of a bother to get involved with. She'd take Nico to the vet, apologize for the trouble, then drop her off and wash her hands of her for the rest of their natural lives.

'… _Do werewolves have a different lifespan than humans? Is it shorter, or….'_ Maki stiffened and cut off her train of thought there. Damn it. She was _not_ getting involved.

Absentmindedly, she twirled a strand of hair around her finger until, finally, the bathroom door re-opened.

Though she more than half-expected a completely human girl to walk out that door, she was proven wrong when the 'dog' from the night prior strode out, looking just a touch more irritated than usual.

"Ah. I guess you _were_ telling the truth…." Maki shifted uncomfortably when her companion glared up at her in response. She rubbed the back of her neck and opted to just head for the front already. "I get it, I get it. I'm sorry I doubted you, or whatever."

This earned her two, maybe three tail wags, but it stopped as soon as the shapeshifter noticed the rope from the night prior. Then she shot the redhead a dour look.

"Not until the vet's office." She assured her. "I'm just pretty sure there's a rule about leashes there, and I don't want to get in trouble."

Like sitting in a car with a pissed-off werewolf wasn't trouble enough, anyways. Maki grumbled something about not having the patience for weird shit under her breath while she opened the door.

"Ugh, just get in the car." She gestured to the vehicle in question as soon as they got outside.

Nico didn't budge. The wolf-girl was eyeing the car like it was going to rev up and eat her. Fair, she supposed, considering she'd been hit by one recently, but…"Come on, get in the car, Nico."

The werewolf pretended not to hear, instead taking extreme interest in Maki's shoe.

"Are you serious?! We're going to be late!" Another non-response. Nico sat down and averted her eyes, looking anywhere but at the redhead. Maki moved forward to try and push her, but quickly backed off when she got growled at - she did _not_ want _those_ teeth anywhere near her limbs.

It probably wouldn't have mattered much anyways; Maki was strong but Nico was around the size of one of those huge, great-dane-looking dogs, only with longer fur. Easily a solid hundred pounds – nothing she could ever hope to pick up if Nico was going to be squirming and growling the whole time.

The nurse grunted in frustration. "Nico. Get in the car."

This time, she got a low-pitched whine. "Oh my god, just get in the car! I am absolutely _positive_ you've been in a car before. You were in a car yesterday. Suck it the hell up and get in!"

Nico yawned.

"Unfuckingbelievable."

* * *

Maki re-emerged from her house for 'get in the fucking car already, you asshole shapeshifter: round two' with a bag of cut up chicken strips in hand. Bribery couldn't fail, right? She made sure to show off the treats (and noted that Nico was definitely just as hungry as she was last night) and then made a show of opening the passenger side door, setting a treat down on the seat, and then getting into the other side of the car.

After a bout of pacing, the werewolf attempted to get to it without jumping in all the way, and failed. Then she set her paws on the seat, got on her hind legs, was she finally fucking getting in – Nico leaned in just far enough to take the meat, then hopped right back out.

She seriously considered the possibility of making a rug out of her.

After one more attempt, and a hefty shove when Nico was halfway in already, she finally managed to force her into the fucking seat. Maki was _never_ doing that again. She huffed as she got into the front seat, buckled herself, and started for the vet's office. "You are _such_ an asshole, Yazawa."

The asshole in question yawned again, then laid her head on Maki's lap.

It was a little harder to be mad after that.

And also a little harder to drive.

It took around twenty minutes to get there, and while obviously agitated, there wasn't a big chase or fuss involved with slipping the rope collar back onto her new 'dog'. Not like the one that went on last night, anyways. Maki almost groaned when she recalled the near-hour it took to actually get Nico into her backyard – only to learn it was a wasted effort in the morning, when she caught a decidedly human girl scrambling away from the scene, collar long-removed.

The desk clerk, a young, fresh-out-of-college-looking woman, swallowed a bit nervously when Maki approached. "O-oh. Is this the dog you called in last night? It seems…bigger, than I would have expected for a husky…." She laughed nervously.

Maki glanced down at Nico, who seemed to be almost gloating. "Ummm…..Yeah, I think it's a mixed breed. I'm not really an expert on them."

"Okay…." The clerk said, uncertainly. "The vet will take care of it. Please proceed to the back room."

"Thank you." The redhead said politely.

Nico growled at the lady on their way past and she looked like she wanted to crawl under the desk. Maki jerked at the collar. "That was rude," She scolded.

Then she growled at her, too.

Maki no longer felt guilty about bringing her to the vet, and handed the makeshift leash over to them as soon as they entered the back. "Careful, I think it's a little grouchy. You might need a muzzle."

"Good idea. You can never tell with strays…" The vet launched into an explanation on what she was going to be doing, why it was a good idea to exercise caution around stray animals, and what type of dog she thought it might be while Maki stuck her tongue out at the werewolf while the vet was turned around.

After an uncomfortable half hour of answering questions vaguely, assuring the vet that no, this was not her dog so she had _no idea_ that it was actually some sort of wolf hybrid, attempting to appeal to her sense of empathy by saying Nico was actually really _sweet_ , and couldn't they just look for the owner instead of calling the game department to collect a wild animal when this was _clearly_ a tame one, and then checking her phone _very_ frequently, they were free to go.

They made it a good three minutes into the car trip when Nico once again crawled into the front seat, this time throwing something at her on the way. She could guess what it was. "A _muzzle_? I should kill you for that!"

"That's illegal." Maki replied bluntly, only glancing over at the other girl a minute or two later when they stopped at a light. "I didn't know you could change back so quickly."

Nico crossed her arms and 'hmmpphed'. "I never said I was done when I hopped up here, did I?"

She tried very hard not to think about what she'd have looked like between stages like that, and instead coughed into her elbow to clear her throat. "Ahem. Where's your house?"

"What do you need to know that for?! And _I'm_ the stalker?" The black-haired girl seemed almost offended.

Maki huffed. "I'm going to drop you off at your house, idiot. Your leg is still busted, even if you insist on putting weight on it."

"Oh." Nico blushed, embarrassed. "Eheh, now that you mention it, my leg does hurt…maybe walking around isn't such a great idea."

"No wonder you got hit by a car..." The redhead grumbled. "You at least kept the crutches, right? I don't like the idea of wasting _more_ medical supplies on you if you're just going to throw them away, but you should really hang on to those in the very least."

"H-hey, I kept them! What do you take me for?! It wasn't like it was _my idea_ to take the bandages off, either! You just need more flexible bandages." Nico grumbled back, pointedly looking away from the other girl.

Maki deadpanned. "I'm sorry we didn't stock the material with _werewolves_ in mind."

They went back and forth like that for a few minutes until, frustrated, Maki just pulled over on the side of the road and turned to look at Nico expectantly. "Look, are you going to tell me how to get to your house or not? I'm trying to be nice, here."

Nico laughed sheepishly. "Oh, yeah, that's what we were talking about. I live in Akihabara, I'll give you directions as we go."

 _Finally_. Letting out a sigh of relief, she pulled back onto the road and followed the directions. When they made it to her house, she expected to just drop her off and be on her way, but, to her eternal surprise, Nico actually invited her inside.

"Wait, seriously?" She asked, dubiously.

She nodded. "Well, even if you were being really annoying this morning," Maki elected to ignore that comment and hope for Nico's sake a compliment was coming after it, "You did still help me out last night. And I did eat your food. So, what I'm saying is, come in and have lunch with me, so we'll be even."

"Oh. U-umm…" Maki took a moment to consider it.

' _It…_ has _been a while since I hung out with someone…'_ She thought idly, then shook her head and nodded. "Sure, why not."

Nico grinned a bit, and nodded sharply. "Alright! Watch your step when you come in, Cotarou always leaves his toys on the floor."

"Noted…" Maki replied, quietly. How young were Nico's siblings again? At the hospital she mentioned the oldest was around twelve….but she never knew how to act around kids…..she was starting to have her doubts about this lunch date. Or, get-together! Date was too intimate, but if it happened more than once she guessed it could be considered a –

The redhead snapped herself out of that traitorous train of thought just in time for Nico to finish unlocking the door and for three kids to spill out at her feet.

"Nico! Nico! Nico!"

"I was so worrrrriiiiiiieeeddddddd! Nicooooooo!"

"Worried!"

Wow, they talked fast. At the same time. Before Maki had the opportunity to slip back into her car, one of them noticed her – the younger looking girl. "Cocoro! Look! Nico brought a lady!"

"Wait, what?" The older-younger sister looked in her direction too. And then the boy.

Maki nervously tugged at her jacket collar. "Uhmm…..hi….?"

Nico looked like she'd just been told the sky was purple. "'Uhm, hi'?" She repeated, incredulously. Before Maki got a chance to give her a snarky response, something clicked for the second-youngest sibling and she abruptly launched herself at Maki.

"You're the one who caught Nico! How could you?!" She flinched when she felt the girl pounding away at her legs. It didn't _hurt_ ,but…..

Well, now she was just standing around in the driveway with a swarm of children at her feet and probably the most awkward expression possible. Nico looked like she was getting ready to piss herself laughing, but she held it in, presumably to encourage her siblings.

"Uh…..ummmmm…" Maki rubbed the back of her head sheepishly and tried to get the kids' attention. When one of them finally stopped to look up at her, she slowly, slowly sank to her knees, then to the side, and, when the boy moved out of the way, onto the ground. "Umm…..you've defeated me….oh no…..?"

She refrained from sighing in relief when the trio cheered and moved away from her. "Close one …." Maki muttered.

 _Now_ Nico found the time to laugh at her. "A-are you – are you _always_ like this around kids?!"

She flushed red, feeling more embarrassed than she really had any cause to be. "Shut up, I don't have any younger siblings. How am I supposed to know what to do with kids?"

"Most people would call it common sense." The older girl pointed out, smirking. Maki refused to acknowledge that point and instead looked away. "But, you didn't do a terrible job." She gestured to her siblings, who were celebrating their 'victory'.

"Oh. That's good, right?"

The older girl rolled her eyes. "Yes, it's good. Come on, let's clear this up."

After a good ten minutes spent explaining to the kids that Maki was _not_ a punching bag _or_ an evil scientist, the trio finally seemed ready to be friendly with her. "You're a doctor, right?" The second oldest one asked. Cocoa, she thought absently. She was pretty sure that was this one's name.

"Nurse, actually." Practically still an intern, to be even more specific…

"Ahuh. So, a doctor." The girl repeated.

Maki smiled in that way people smile when they don't feel like correcting kids. "Sure."

"Then you must be the person who saved Nico from that car! How'd you do it?! Cars are her only weakness!"

Her smile faltered, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Nico go stiff by the kitchen counter. Maki closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Nico Yazawa," She said, 'pleasantly'. "Does she mean to tell me….you've been hit by a car…. _more than once_?"

"Errr…..no?" Nico replied, hesitantly.

Her sibling, the oldest one, laughed. "What are you talking about! You've come home whining about it at least six times! Cars are Nico's kryptonite! And locked doors." She added, looking uncertain. " 'Cept, the locked doors are on purpose, cars aren't. Well, people _drive_ them on purpose, but they don't hit Nico on purpose because that would be just plain –"

" _Nico_ …"Maki growled.

Nico flinched. "….hospital bills are expensive, and I heal fast enough anyways, so…."

" _You idiot_!"

* * *

After a small chase and a lengthy discussion about why it was a terrible idea to leave concussions (and or broken limbs) untreated, they settled down. And they ate dinner like a mostly normal group of people.

A mostly normal group of people, consisting of: one tired and exasperated nurse, a werewolf, a twelve-year old eating like the most mature person at the table, a ten year old using her hands instead of utensils because she was 'training to touch guts and stuff like a doctor' and a six year old pounding the spaghetti with a toy hammer instead of eating it.

….It was probably the nicest lunch she'd ever had.

Not that she'd tell any of them that, of course. Of course, after lunch turned into 'until dinner' because _suddenly_ one of the kids was fascinated with doctors and asked – more like _demanded_ – to see an operation. And then they got board games out, and never put them away, because Maki didn't know how to play around five of them and Cocoro was staring at her like she was a national fucking treasure.

It wound up with a visit lasting around four hours longer than she expected (but, to be fair, her initial estimate was _zero_ hours, she noted dryly), she finally made it to the door after Nico rounded up her siblings for movie night. The black-haired girl gave her a little shove at the doorway. "And _stay_ out." She followed this by sticking her tongue out at her.

"…And here I was starting to think you actually resembled a responsible adult." She deadpanned. Nico didn't even falter. Maki rolled her eyes. "Sorry for intruding so long. I hadn't realized it was a crime to be new to that 'Chutes and Ladders' game."

"Oh, it's not. Just when you do it." She snickered, then propped herself up against the doorway. "Really though, I think they like you. If you're not careful I might just jump your fence and kidnap you again…."

"I can and will make a higher fence." Maki said, bluntly.

Nico winced. "O-or, you could just come over some other time…..if you get tired of like, circle-jerking it in your mansion or whatever, I mean. Not that I actually want you to come back to my house, but, it can't be helped, you know? Sometimes people just can't get enough of the world-class host Nico –"

"If I feel like it, I'll call you. Goodnight, Nico."

She smirked when she noted she hadn't heard the door close yet by the time she got back to her car and pulled out of the driveway.

It felt good to have the last word.

…wait, shit, did she ever even get her phone number? Maki considered turning around. Then decided, abruptly, she'd rather die than do that and would instead have to find some other way.

Yeah. Regardless, she was flustered the whole way home. She might've thought that out a little better...but, what's done is done.

* * *

Waiting for her when she returned, there was a car parked outside her house. She thought it looked vaguely familiar. Before she could put her finger on it, or even really work out any reason for it being there, someone she _did_ recognize got up from sitting on the curb, scooping up what seemed to be a deck of cards as she did.

"Oh. You're Nico's friend, right? I just dropped her off." Well, 'just' being a bit of an overstatement.

Idly, she wondered why Nozomi hadn't just called Nico, and how long she'd been here. Nico had been home for almost four hours, so it was certainly a little late to be worried about her location…..

"It's no trouble. I only just got here myself." The other girl replied easily, walking forward until they were talking face to face. "This may sound strange, but, I was actually hoping you could answer a question for me?"

"You're right. It does sound strange." Maki said dryly. But, Nozomi had been nothing if not polite, and Maki would, _very_ tentatively and _very_ reluctantly, consider herself friends with Nico now…and, Nozomi was apparently Nico's friend, too, so….She guessed, for the sake of politeness, she could entertain a question or two. The girl probably just wanted some simple medical information, anyways. "But, I guess I don't have a problem with it. Shoot."

Nozomi smiled amicably. "Thank you."

Maki shrugged, feeling a little awkward with all the politeness going around. It was such a huge contrast to Nico's attitude. How were these two friends? "No problem. What was it you wanted to ask?"

The other girl leaned back a little, rocking on the heels of her feet and tapping a finger to her chin thoughtfully . "Maki, you….you haven't noticed anything _strange_ about Nico, have you?"

She was prepared for a question, but not that kind. Maki jolted a little in surprise. Why would Nozomi be asking questions about her own friend? Did she expect Maki to know something?

The only strange thing Nozomi might not know about Nico was….oh.

Oh no.

If it were possible to break into a cold sweat in an instant, Maki would say that's what she did. Instead, she just rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, trying to warm up her suddenly clammy hands. Well, she should probably keep the werewolf thing a secret, right? Yes, of course she should. "N-no, Nico seems to be in good health. Aside from the obvious, anyways."

Nozomi smiled again. It seemed more intimidating somehow. "Oh, but, you know that's not what I'm talking about, right?" She cocked her head to the side, looking as if she was evaluating the younger girl. "Judging from your face, I'd say there's something much more interesting about Nicocchi that you just don't feel like telling me."

"Look, she's _your_ friend. If you think something is up, why not just ask her?" Maki shot back, trying her best to appear unaffected.

"Aww, but Nico is so stubborn. She never tells me _anything_. Like when she needs help with babysitting….what grade she got on her tests… _where she goes every full moon_." Nozomi grinned widely when she noticed Maki flinch at the last bit. "She's a werewolf, right?"

"Werewolves aren't real." She denied flatly.

The taller girl made a 'tsk' noise. "You're a stubborn one too, aren't you? Ah, but, I guess I got what I needed. Thank you, Maki."

Nozomi looked like she was getting ready to get back into her car. Maki wondered nervously if she should intervene. The answer was probably yes _._ "W-wait! What are you going to do?"

She shrugged. "Well, werewolves are pretty dangerous, aren't they? I should probably make sure everyone is safe, don't you agree?"

Maki twirled a strand of hair anxiously, wrapping it around her finger and then uncurling it again. "Actually, I….I'd have to disagree. You should really just leave her alone. Nico is fine."

"Ah, so you _will_ admit you know it!"

She crossed her arms. "I feel like you missed the point of that sentence."

Nozomi waved it off. "Oh, no, I understood. I agree with you, too, but rules are rules! I can't exactly, well, leave you wandering around with knowledge of this sort of thing, you know. There's training and stuff. Why do you think I bothered coming all the way to your house?"

This was it. Her life had officially become a shitty fantasy novel. What next, was she going to be forced to quit her job and join the fucking men in black just for helping a 'stray dog'?

Maki made the most disgruntled face she could muster and reluctantly got into the car for god knows why, other than merely not wanting to know what would happen if she refused, and Nozomi giggled.

"Calm _down_ , you grump. I'm just teasing you. I'd say you passed, so I'll explain: I just came here to make sure you weren't the type to rat Nico out - I already knew."

Maki flushed, growing embarrassed. This was all a joke?! "You could have opened with that, you know!" She said, irritably. "You made it sound like you were going to kill her!"

"And _you_ made it sound like you planned to stop me." Nozomi replied easily, stopping the younger girl in her tracks. "I'd say that makes you a pretty good friend. Nico would be so proud of you! Like me!"

The redhead looked away awkwardly. What was with this girl? Dead serious and threatening one minute, bubbly and cheerful the next? She could definitely make it as an actor, that was for sure. "Why do I still have to be in your car, then?"

Once again, the older girl waved her statement off. "Oh, you'll find out soon. Don't worry. I was just….organizing a meeting," She said resolutely. Then she muffled another laugh. "I was actually planning on taking this little prank a little further, but your face was so funny I broke character. I just wanted to pinch your pouting little cheeks.."

Maki flushed again. "Why do you act like I'm five?"

"You're two years younger than me, it's basically the same thing." She said breezily. "Lighten up a little, Maki!"

"My mom is two years younger than my dad but I hardly think he thinks _she's_ five." Maki shot back, flatly. 'Lighten up', really?

"That's different, they're adults. You'll understand when you're older!"

"I'm eighteen years old! I _am_ an adult! So are you!"

"Those are trivial details, really."

The nurse sighed heavily. Of course Nozomi's politeness couldn't last. This was almost as bad as going back and forth with Nico, only with less snark and more…..whatever she called Nozomi's sense of humor. At least she seemed much more easygoing than Nico, if nothing else. "Can you at least tell me where we're going?"

"You'll see soon."

"Ugh." Maki grunted.

Nozomi grinned wryly at her through the rear-view mirror. "You know, you left something at Nico's house. I can give it to you if you want."

The redhead raised an eyebrow. "I did?" She didn't think she'd even brought anything in with her…..

"Yeah. Her number."

Maki groaned loudly. She was _so_ glad she'd taken the day off today.

* * *

 **AN: This just in: I'm not sure how, but somehow, Maki is a bigger potty mouth than Nico, and Nico is pretty much allergic to cars in her wolf form, wow haha. Also the second year trio was going to be here but then I realized the chapter was almost 6,000 words and I sorta just. Cut it so that this wouldn't be too long, heheh. So you'll see those dorks next time with Maki, and, hopefully, Eli will be introduced in the same chapter, too!**

 **haha, but, jokes aside I'm actually really surprised that this many people read it and liked it? wow? So, thanks, to everyone who decided to take an interest in the story! I'll try not to disappoint! Speaking of which, how should I set my update schedule? Should I just update whenever a new chapter is done, or should I set it up so that it's like an 'every five days' or once a week sort of deal? Updating as soon as a chapter is finished might mean fast updates for now, but it does leave me unprepared for when ye olde writer's block decides to knock me flat on my ass and leave, so I figured I should ask. As for your questions, I'll respond some here - To Master thief: Yeah, i'm going with the 'magical clothes' variant of lycanthropy because frankly, Maki would've just called the cops if she saw some ass-naked stranger in her backyard, haha. And, since firetucks was wondering, actually yes! I am planning on other characters being spoopy halloween-themed monsters, some of which you'll see next chapter. Thanks for reading! See you around saturday, probably.**


	3. Chapter 3

"A sweets shop, really? I told you already, but I'm not five."

They hadn't been driving for very long before Nozomi pulled up to the curb in front of the building in question. "We're not here for sweets…..though, I should probably buy some after to make up for this."

"Make up for what?" Maki asked, curiously.

"Just follow along with me, alright? And let me check inside to make sure a certain someone isn't lurking around. She might eat you."

Maki felt like she'd live to regret whatever she was about to agree to. "Sure." She said lamely, with the tone of someone who wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and _not_ do whatever they were agreeing to do. _Eat_ her? What the hell kind of friends did Nozomi have? Well….other than werewolves and…ugh, this was going to be something weird again, wasn't it. She sighed deeply, resigned to her fate.

The purple haired girl giggled and tapped Maki's nose. "Sounds like someone's ready for a nap. I might just join you when we're done here."

She didn't rise to that bait, but allowed Nozomi to slip into the building first. After a minute or so, she stepped back out. "Oh, coast is clear! I don't think she's here right now, so you can come in."

"Why would you take me here if you're trying to _avoid_ someone that's usually he-EEEEEEEEERRE!" Maki actually _screamed_ and all but jumped back when something leapt out at her…..from above the doorframe. She scrambled back out of the door despite having been completely floored, but whatever it was followed her.

Pinned to the floor, all she could make out was an eerie blue glow, too-hot breath and… " _Nozomiiiiiiiii_ …!" A voice whined. "She actually looks scared! I'm sorry!"

They got off, but Maki stayed on the floor.. "I think…. I had….a heart attack…" She breathed, lying stock still on the ground. "This is it…..girl, age eighteen, dead of cardiac arrest….I had a good run…"

"Ahhh! Stay with us! Stay with us!"

The voice from before was pushing on her chest, but it was far from CPR. In fact, this girl was basically just punching her in the gut over and over again. Hard. "Stop that! I'm fine!"

"Oh, phew…..eheheheh, sorry." Maki sat up and glared at the source of the voice, and orange haired girl with a sheepish expression. Suddenly, she was a lot less scary. She winced under Maki's heated glare. "I-it was all Nozomi's idea! I'm sorry!"

"Amazingly enough, I actually believe you." Maki muttered dryly. She took the time to evaluate the other girl, but if she claimed to be a vampire, then Maki was literally willing to walk all the way back home. She did not have the time to be in a shitty fantasy novel. She was a _nurse_ , dammit, and this was not relevant to her job.

The other girl seemed to notice that she was being looked over, because she straightened up. The orange haired girl gave her a sharp grin. "Heheh, usually I wear contacts," She gestured to pitch-black sclera, and her pupils flashed blue, "but Nozomi wanted me to spook you. She does this to a buncha people! It's like a hazing, but without the haze. Or the sorority. Or any sort of club to actually enter when you finish it. So really it's just a prank she plays on people she wants to hang out with…?" She cocked her head to the side. "Oh."

Exasperated, Maki just decided to get up. The other girl sheepishly offered her a hand. "I'm Honoka. And I'm also sorry. Have I said I was sorry yet? I'm really sorry, I think you might've bruised something, I didn't mean for you to fall so hard…."

"It's okay, I guess." Maki said, brushing herself off. "It's not even the first time I've been knocked over today."

Nozomi rejoined the group at this. "That wouldn't happen to have involved Nico, would it?"

"Don't act like you didn't just set that prank up!" Maki said irritably. "You can't just butt into my conversation without saying sorry, either!"

The taller girl grinned. "I'm sorry for having Honoka scare you….Anyways, I meant what I asked."

"And what did you ask, exactly?"

"Is Nicocchi that playful when she's all wolfy? Is she what knocked you over earlier?"

"If by 'playful' you mean 'a huge furry _pain in the ass_ that won't sit still when you want her to and won't move when you do', then yes, she is the singular most playful canine I've met in my entire life." Maki deadpanned. "And no, actually, it was her siblings that knocked me over."

Honoka grinned. "She sounds fun!"

The other redhead grumbled. "I'm inclined to disagree, but I guess she's kind of nice when she's in human form."

"You want to go inside and talk? I can offer you some free sweets, but, most of what we have is just things with red bean paste….sorry." She sighed, defeated. "Ah, but Umi will be really mad if I give out free desserts again…" Honoka looked conflicted.

Nozomi looked less so. "Well, I mean, if you're _offering_ ….." She ran inside, and Honoka yelped and ran after her.

"Not too much! Mom will kill me!"

"Stop! Thief!" There was some clattering from inside, and Maki once again seriously considered walking home.

Then she walked in and saw a setting framed like a renaissance painting. Nozomi, on the floor, surrounded by a fallen table cloth draped gently over her body. Honoka, to the right of her, torn between staring at the bowl of spilled bean-paste dumplings on the floor and the now dirty tablecloth. And another girl with cascading blue hair, holding a chair out like a weapon and pointing it at Nozomi.

Lastly, a fourth girl stood awkwardly at the doorway to the living area, just outside the hall from the storefront. She waved at Maki. "Um, if you're looking to buy something, I'm pretty sure the shop is closed right now. Sorry."

The girl with the chair set it down gently and cleared her throat. "I apologize for my lack of composure. Please, buy something from my friend's store."

"Guys, she's been outside the whole time…this is Nozomi's new friend." Honoka explained, sheepishly. "I was gonna offer her a sweet….because I scared her."

"I was wondering why you removed your contacts," Blue-hair girl remarked idly. "Now it makes more sense."

"I'm leaving." Maki announced loudly, turning on her heel to walk back outside.

* * *

She did not end up leaving. Instead she sat around a table and ate with them. It was much quieter than it had been in Nico's house. In a sort of nice way, she guessed.

Maki learned that Honoka was some sort of demon, the blue haired girl, Umi, was just another normal human, and the third and final girl, Kotori….well, actually, she hadn't been discussed, but Maki thought she seemed the most normal out of everyone present, so that probably meant she was human as well….? She'd list her as a maybe. And hope she wasn't proven wrong.

She leaned back in her chair, watching idly as the others interacted. Nozomi was still sort of her ride home, so….wasn't like she could leave early. Admittedly it was a little aggravating to not be completely clued in on all the stuff they were talking about – because frankly, some of it went right over her head – but, every now and then something piqued her interest enough to listen in.

Like now, for instance. Kotori was trying to get Nozomi's attention, and when she did, tipped her head curiously. "So, Nozomi – where's Eli? Isn't she usually with you? We haven't seen her today."

Nozomi smiled coyly. "Oh, she's….around. When I went to pick up Maki, I also dropped her off by my friend Nico's house. I hope they're getting along nicely."

* * *

Meanwhile, 'getting along nicely' wasn't exactly what was happening at the Yazawa residence. Nico huffed, letting out a sigh.

Eli had come to visit, and, as ever, was straight and to the point when asked why. "Well, Nozomi does like to give people a little push when she notices they can be doing something more worthwhile,"

' _Understatement of the century.'_ Nico had thought, but let the blonde continue.

"So, she decided to look into some things regarding vucari –

"Regarding what?" Cocoa had interrupted.

"Werewolves," Eli said sheepishly. "Anyways, she thinks she found a cure, and thought it was worth pointing out; but if that is _not_ the case….She thinks you should look into making a few good friends. Her cards said something big is about to happen, and she wants everyone prepared."

It sounded like a load of nonsense. Especially the cure. "And _how_ would I do that?" She'd asked, dryly.

"Simple. Just ask Maki Nishikino out." Eli replied, matter-of-factly.

And _that_ was where the problem started.

Nico was perched on her couch, legs pulled up to her chest and an annoyed glare on her face. Her siblings huddled in various similar poses around her. "No." she said, bluntly.

"Yes," across from her, her former classmate shook her head. "Nozomi said it's the right course of action."

"And I'm just supposed to do whatever she suggests?!" She shot back, incredulously.

Eli rubbed her neck absentmindedly, seeming a little more sheepish. "Well, that's not the best way of putting it, but basically, yes. That's how I get by."

She snorted. "Good thing I'm not you, then."

The blonde did her best not to look annoyed and excused herself from the room to use the bathroom. Nico waited, pulling a pillow from the other side of the couch and squeezing it harshly.

Her younger sister cocked her head to the side. "Why does she want you and the doctor lady to date?"

"That's a _wonderful_ question." The black-haired girl said, doing her best not to look as annoyed as she was. "Why don't you ask Eli?"

"She's peeing, that's rude." Cocoro countered. On the couch, she shifted a little so she was closer to her brother. "Lots of people are coming over lately. Can I have a friend over?"

"Sure, whatever."

The younger girl fist-pumped and left the room with her brother. Cocoa quickly followed suit while they planned; Eli stepped out of the bathroom and shot them a curious look but didn't say anything. She settled onto the couch where her siblings had been sitting. "You don't actually have to _date_ her, you know. Nozomi just mentioned it'd be a good idea."

"And you have absolutely _zero_ personal opinions on the matter?" Nico asked, eyebrow raising ever higher. "What happened to no-nonsense Eli? This is like, the pinnacle of nonsense. I don't think it could possibly make any less sense, and this is coming from...well, _me_. Once I woke up with my face still half inside a dead deer."

Eli grimaced. "I didn't really need to hear that, but I do know what you're saying. Personally, I think it's ridiculous as well, but I've learned that Nozomi is….almost always correct. I'm just here to deliver the message – do whatever you want."

She huffed again. "She just said to come over here and tell me to date some girl I met two days ago because what, the _cards told her_ it would work out? And you just, _agreed_ to do it? No questions asked?"

"….That would seem to be the case." Eli said, growing more embarrassed by the second. "The more I think about it, the more I wonder why I didn't just say no to coming over here in the first place…."

' _Because Nozomi has you totally whipped,_ ' Nico thought privately. Instead of saying that, though, she just rolled her eyes. "Well, you're here now. She really didn't tell you anything else?"

"No, just to tell you to ask 'Maki' out. I don't even know who that is." Eli admitted, "Maybe you'd like to come ask her the meaning of this with me? I think I've regained at least some of my common sense by this point." She said dryly.

Nico considered it for a moment. She looked at Eli, then over to her siblings, cheerful and distracted in the other room. "…I'm in."

* * *

"I might have reconsidered if you had mentioned we'd be using the public transit." Nico grumbled, brushing past a few people and in quite a hurry to get out of the crowded station.

Eli followed with a bemused look on her face. "I didn't know you were so averse to it. You never struck me as the prissy type."

"Did I ever strike you as the type who likes to keep a functioning nose, then?!" She shot back. "You don't understand how bad it smells in there! It's like B.O and shitty perfume had a child, and then it threw up all over the back seat!"

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Sometimes it smells bad for everyone, Nico."

"Sure, but it smells ten times worse when your nose is ten times better, so don't even try to knock me for that one." She grumbled. "Either way, did you ever even say where we're going? Not that I don't love wandering around in circles, but…."

"We're almost there. Nozomi is just checking in on some friends." Eli assured her.

Nico craned her neck to look around the taller girl's shoulder. "That the place?"

Eli blinked. "Yes, actually. Have you been there before?"

"No, but I can see Nozomi's car parked in front of it." Nico said flatly.

Eli suddenly became very interested in changing the subject. "Ah…..well, better go in! Come on, Nico!"

Once inside, they heard snippets of a conversation. Or, Nico did – she wasn't sure Eli heard yet.

"…at's definitely not it, but I'll give you a C for creativity."

"What happened to A for effort, huh?!"

"Effort doesn't pass entrance exams."

It stopped around there, mostly because Eli had wandered into the back room by that point. Nico followed behind, noting that Nozomi and Maki were both here, as well as three other girls she didn't know – likely the friends the purple haired girl was checking in on. She waved and all three seemed to acknowledge it.

Nozomi got up from the table. "Hello, Eli, Nico." She gave a nod to each of them, respectively. "Did you two have fun?"

Nico shrugged. Eli did too. "It was nice to see her again, but you did send me with some rather strange advice….." The blonde said, trailing off. She and Eli moved off to the far side of the room, and Nico let them, with little reluctance. Instead she turned to face the trio she didn't know and Maki, who was looking around with a somewhat disgruntled expression. Not that she ever looked different, but, Nico was willing to guess it was because she and Eli had never met.

"You're Nico, right? I'm Honoka! And that's Kotori, and that's Umi, and that's Maki!" She pointed as she talked – and she talked pretty fast so it was kind of hard to track the movement. "Now we all know each other!"

The girl she'd pointed out as Umi frowned. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

Honoka glanced away. "…..I really need to pee and I didn't want you to introduce yourselves without me…."

Umi sighed. "Just use the bathroom. We can introduce ourselves properly and then wait for you to get back. Nothing fun will happen while you're gone."

"Promise?"

She sighed again. "Yes, I promise." The orange haired girl booked it. Nico watched with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I guess you already know our names now, but it is nice to meet you!" Kotori said, cheerfully. "Honoka can be a bit much, but it's just because she's friendly. Do you want something to eat?"

Nico shook her head. "No, I'm good. I already ate dinner." She took a second to look around the shop. "So, one of you guys lives here, right?" Nozomi and Eli had stopped talking in the front room, she noted.

"Honoka does, actually. Her family owns the store." Umi explained. "Why?"

"Right, right." She said, distractedly. Then she pointed with a thumb to the front room. "I was just going to suggest she lock the door before someone walks in and gets eye candy instead of their usual stock. Nozomi and Eli are…..not subtle." She scowled, nose scrunching up. "I _know_ they're making out somewhere. Years of third-wheeling in high school trained me for this moment. It's too quiet in there."

Maki looked up skeptically. "You got here five minutes ago. There's no way they can jump into something like that _right_ away."

Nico sent her a dour look. "You want to bet?"

"Sure."

Nico pushed the door open and dragged a very flustered Eli back from the hall by her jacket hood. Nozomi followed, looking despondent. "It's rude to interrupt people like that!"

"Guess who was right? Me." The black haired girl said, proudly. Then she frowned. If she was proud of predicting this, she really needed to reevaluate her life.

Maki flinched. "Seriously you guys? Nozomi, aren't you supposed to be all mystic and hard to get?"

"I'm back! I didn't miss anything, right?" Honoka announced loudly. Then she stopped in the hallway. Looked at everyone standing up, and Eli pointedly avoiding eye contact. She gasped in mock offense and pointed an accusatory finger at Umi. "I knew I'd miss something! How could you?!"

* * *

The conversation sort of just degenerated from there, and they might have gone in circles all night if Maki hadn't interrupted to point out that she kind of had to get home because it was growing late. Naturally, that meant that rather than drive Maki home herself, Nozomi pushed the job onto Nico, because _suddenly_ Maki's house was too far out of the way and, 'it's a really nice night out anyways, Nico! Get some fresh air!'

And then she had to walk Maki back home. And use public transportation again. Ugh.

Maki seemed more or less unaffected for most of the ride home, but she did seem relieved when they finally got off the bus. Then they were faced with a different problem: it was kind of chilly.

Kind of _really_ chilly.

The redhead was grumbling. "Maybe we should've brought Honoka along. She's like a moving space heater."

Nico scoffed. "What, you can't take a little cold? This is nothing!"

"You're cold too." Maki said flatly, observing the shivering of the shorter girl.

"Yeah, well, I could be nice and warm right now, but I'm walking you home instead." She shot back, just as grumpy. "So it wouldn't kill you to be a little nicer, would it?"

"It could."

Now Nico was grumbling. "If you're that cold why don't you just go buy a jacket? We're still in the shopping district."

"I don't have any money on me. Would you be able to get one?" Maki asked, curiously.

Nico checked her pockets, finding a few crumbled ones and a five. She stuffed it back down. "Uh….no, unless it was less than ten bucks. You seriously don't carry any money on you?" Wasn't Maki like, loaded? What kind of rich person didn't carry _any_ money on them?

Maki shrugged, stuffing her own hands in her pockets in an attempt to keep them warm. "I might still have my card from the vet earlier today, but it seems a bit pointless. That's for emergencies, and it's not like I'll die of cold. We're only around twenty minutes away, anyways – I wasn't planning on being out of the house for long today."

"Fair point." The older girl admitted. "Still, we should take a few shortcuts. I don't want to be out here any longer than necessary."

"Agreed."

* * *

"Nico, it's been forty minutes." Maki droned.

"Sh-shut up! We aren't lost!" Nico retorted, rubbing her arms. "Your watch is just wrong!" She'd decided to take them through an alley, because alleys were always shortcuts, right? But then she thought somebody shady was following them…..and the paranoia led her to take turns she didn't remember…..and by the time she thought she'd shaken the pursuer….

Nico sighed heavily. "….We're lost."

"I told you!" Maki said, irritably. "Why did I bother going along with this, again? I could be home right now!"

"So could I, but you were just too scared to walk home by yourself! So I'm! Walking you! Home!" Nico growled. "I thought someone was already in the alley, and they were like, radiating killing intent or some shit, so I helped us avoid them!"

"The alley that _you_ insisted we use as a shortcut." The redhead countered.

Nico stomped her foot. "That's not the point!"

"That's actually _exactly_ the point….."

While they had a nice long row about it, neither noticed a figure creeping up behind them, until it was too late….they pounced on Maki.

"MAKI! Hi! What are you doing out here?!" The stranger nuzzled the redhead, taking great pains to ensure that basically every inch of her head was, somehow, touching the other girl's arm. Nico took a step back.

"Wh- Rin?!"

Rin backed off a little, rocking back and forth on the heels of her feet. "I thought I saw you! I was going to call you earlier today, that's nuts, nya! We should hang out some more, Maki!"

Beside her, the dark-haired girl rubbed her temples. "Don't tell me…..you saw Maki, and decided to follow us?"

"Yeah!" Rin chirruped eagerly. "How'd you know? Maki, how did your friend know? Is she a psychic? Oh, oh! Can you guess my name?!" She seemed to be in a constant state of excitement. Nico had never wanted to facepalm so badly in her life.

"What a dastardly fate you helped us avoid," Maki drawled sarcastically. "Are you sure you didn't sense _cuddling_ intent?"

Nico's face turned a dark shade of red. "At least I was right about somebody following us….not that I'll get any credit for that, either…." She mumbled.

Rin looked between the two of them, blinking curiously. "Oh! You thought I was stalking you? That's be pretty creepy, nya! Don't fear, you were only being followed by me and Kayo-chin!"

"Who?" Nico asked, dumbfounded. Last she checked, there was only one girl here…..

Maki elbowed her in the gut. "It's her imaginary friend, just roll with it." She spoke through clenched teeth so the orange-haired girl wouldn't be able to tell she was saying anything.

"Oh." God, and she thought _her_ friends were weird. This 'Rin' girl was on a whole new level.

" _Ah…..actually, I'm here! Please don't ignore me_!" Nico jolted. That definitely wasn't Rin, and it definitely wasn't Maki, either.

Rin seemed to notice the startled look, though, because she just grinned impishly at Nico. "Oh, she likes you! You should hang out with us sometime, Maki's-friend!"

"It's Nico." She corrected, crossing her arms. She was content to leave it at that, but Maki elbowed her in the stomach again, so she kept talking. "I'd….love, to hang out with you two, but I have to get Maki back home. She's so spoiled she didn't even want to walk back on her own."

"Hey!" Maki protested.

Rin tipped her head to the side. "Oh! Why don't you catch a ride with me and Kayo-chin? We were just heading home ourselves!"

"Well, I'm game." Nico said, as if she wasn't extremely glad for the offer, "How about you, Maki?"

She huffed. "The sooner you get me away from this idiot, the better."

Nico stuck her tongue out at her.

Rin and the mystery girl laughed.

* * *

They did end up catching a ride with the cheerful girl, and, since they decided to drop Maki off first, Nico said goodbye and the redhead nodded instead of saying it back like the huge prick she was, and then after about half a minute of being outside of the car but making no move to go inside, hesitantly asked for her number.

Nico laughed in her face.

Two minutes and one slap later, Maki was safely inside her home with Nico's phone number, while Rin looked on with a dumbfounded expression. "Do you guys always fight like that?"

"Nah, just most of the time." Nico waved it off. "Thanks for giving us a ride."

"No problem! Eheh…." Rin took on a more keyed-down expression all of a sudden, eyebrows suddenly furrowing. "….so, you heard Kayo-chin earlier, right?"

Surprised at the sudden shift in tone, Nico just nodded. "Uh, yeah. Is that uncommon?"

"She's just, really shy, yeah? I didn't expect her to talk to anyone until we started taking turns again." Rin admitted. Then she grinned a little. "She thought you were kidnapping Maki, so we followed you two around. Turns out we worried for nothing, nya!" She switched back to cheerful. "You should meet her in person, sometime. It's way more fun!"

This just got weirder, but Rin had been nothing but nice, so Nico was willing to put up with it. The topic seemed to have been dropped, anyways. "Anyways, sorry for spooking you in town! Want a ride home, too? It's no problem, really!"

"Sure." Nico replied, leaning back a little in her seat.

She'd had a lot of bad experiences with cars, but in times like this, they were pretty damn convenient.

Before she got out of the car, she got Rin's phone number too, with the promise of seeing each other again sometime, or, in Rin's own words, "Throwing a super-fun sleepover with Maki and Kayo-chin!"

As soon as she got home she flopped into bed, hoping all her siblings had done the same about a half hour ago at their bed time. Just as she was about to fall asleep, her phone buzzed.

Grouchily, she rolled over in bed to check it.

 _Message from: Nozotitty_

' _r u awake'_

Nico gave the fastest response she could.

' _no.'_

' _come to my house 2morrow ok'_

She grunted and pulled her pillow closer to her head. _'sure, whatever. go to BED'_

Just as she thought it was over, her phone buzzed one last time.

' _depends, r u joining me? ;)'_

' _no_ _.'_

She turned the phone off, and for the first time in two or three days, managed to sleep through the whole night in her actual bed.

* * *

 **AN: Wow, five introductions in one chapter (i'm not counting Hanayo because she had like 1 line lol). That was a bit too rushed but oh well ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ haha  
**

 **side notes: Honkers is a demon bc she sins so much, and being Nico is suffering, haha. Sorry, it's what happens when you're a main character  
**

 **Anyways, it's not saturday, because junk came up, so I think it'd be a good idea if I didn't set a schedule to avoid breaking it, heheh. But, I should still be pumping out like one chapter a week, and if there's no schedule I don't have the impulse control to NOT post it as soon as it's done, so updates shouldn't be too irregular! Or, I hope they won't be, anyways. Thanks again for reading, see you soon, hopefully!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, can you check room 107?"

"Sure." Maki grunted in response, changing course from the bathroom. That would be the less thrilling part about this nurse/intern gig, for sure. If she wasn't playing delivery girl, she was running between wings with about three minutes' leeway to use the restroom.

Which meant holding it for hours.

But, work was work, she thought with a sigh. If the business was going to stay in the family, then she had to know it inside out, first.

Maki sighed again and drummed her fingers on the end table; the patient was sleeping, completely stable and in no way distressed. Someone else must have gotten here first.

Now unoccupied, she considered trying to get to the restroom again, but, knowing she'd be intercepted, instead decided to take a moment to consider her standing. A whole lot of _weird_ had happened in the past few days.

Case in point: her new werewolf friend.

Maki fished her phone out of her pocket, flicking through the contacts. She checked her phone to see Nico's phone number still there – she'd done that a few times, as if to make sure it wouldn't disappear, because honestly she still had her doubts yesterday and the day prior even happened.

But, here was the number, and she had the vet bill, too, so that was also a thing. Granted, it was also a very wasteful thing, considering that Nico's leg had seemed perfectly fine by the time they met up again last night – another oddity.

As a nurse and someone interested in medicine, she should probably find it exciting. Two days and a broken leg had already healed? She should, logically, be ecstatic. Deeply intrigued, at the very least. Granted, it wasn't a very _bad_ break, but still. _Two days_. Less than that, even. That kind of fast restoration was the type of thing doctors had wet dreams about.

Maki's drumming on the table increased in speed.

It wasn't like she was _un_ interested, but…there was just no way it'd work out well for Nico. And the possibility of death was too high and too hard for her to ever consider it. So, in light of all that….

It was their little secret.

A third and final sigh escaped her lips, just in time for the patient to wake up. "Can you…..get me..…some water?"

"Of course."

* * *

Maki suppressed a yawn as she strolled out of the building. What's-her-face, the new intern, had noticed someone even younger than herself working at the hospital and immediately took it upon herself to give (unwanted) daily commentary on how hard the shift must have been.

"-so, I go into Mrs. Sakura's room, and she just _throws_ the plate at me!" What's-her-face purses her lips for a moment, then shakes her head. "I wonder what it must be like to have all the patients treat you _kindly_ for a change."

Maki wanted to point out that Mrs. Sakura had also thrown a plate at her, because, yeah, lady, that's kind of what schizo patients tended to do. Wanted to point out that mostly, people asked her if they could see an _actual_ nurse, or, in some of the male cases, attempted to hit on her.

She nodded. "It's nice. Nothing I can do to get kids to like me, though."

What's-her-face took a moment to consider it, then moved onto complaining about something else.

Thankfully, Maki's phone rang halfway through the second word. "Sorry, gotta take this." She said immediately, without so much as checking the caller.

The lady looked upset for a split second before being re-upset by whatever had been bothering her beforehand - this time explaining the issue to some poor sap just trying to leave the hospital through the front door.

Maki slid the answer button and put the phone up to her ear. "Hello? Who is this?"

" _It's your worst nightmare_." The voice on the other end said 'menacingly'.

"Honoka, how did you get my phone number?" She asked bluntly.

There was a brief pause. " _Uh…..magic?"_ Maki remained silent, unimpressed. Honoka snickered, giving in. " _Nozomi got it from Nico somehow, but she wouldn't say how, heheh. I just wanted to ask if you were going to be busy this weekend! Umi, Kotori and I are planning on going to this amusement park festival event thingy. There'll be games and stuff!"_

Maki was doubtful. "I don't go to that sort of thing very often," She said, carefully. "And if you're already going with two people, I'd assume you have your hands full…." She'd just one more person to entertain, right? Not to mention….she was absolute _shit_ at fair games.

Not that anyone needed to know that. Ever.

" _That just means you should come for sure this time! Come on, fairs are really fun when you go with friends! I promise you'll have fun!"_

The redhead silently cursed the other girl's friendliness. "Umm…." She said, uncomfortably. "I'll check my schedule."

" _Alright!_ " There was the sound of air being disturbed on the other end – Honoka had evidently just fist-pumped. " _Call me soon, okay?"_

What in the hell had she just half-agreed to?

* * *

"Maki, you're great and all, really, but when you said you wanted my number I didn't think it was so you could call me and bitch about not knowing what to do with _other_ people." Nico said dryly. They'd arranged to meet up the next day, while Maki was still stalling on giving Honoka her answer. Nico was now (rightfully) telling her off for dragging her feet so much and also for 'wasting a perfectly good evening on bitching' when they could be eating dinner or something.

Maki groaned loudly. "I knooooooww, enough already! I _already_ regret calling you for this!"

"Then why _did_ you call me? I mean, evidently you have _loads_ of other friends." She retorted, voice dripping with sarcasm.

She crossed her arms over her chest protectively. "I…I don't know, I felt like calling you." Realizing that excuse amounted to absolutely nothing, except perhaps a mild sense of attachment to Nico (which she did _not_ want the werewolf to catch on to, lest Maki have to sit through another egotistical rant) she quickly created a better one. "It's technically your fault for giving Nozomi my number, because she gave it to Honoka and that's what –"

"Started this mess." Nico concluded grumpily. "Look, if you think it was my choice, you'd be wrong. She invited me over, lulled me into a false sense of security, and then she just _had_ my phone in her hands all of a sudden, already unlocked!" She scowled. "She changed all of my contact names too. It took me like three hours to get _that_ mess sorted out."

Maki snorted. "What'd she change them to that made it so difficult?"

"Nothing. Hers was obvious enough because she renamed herself 'Tarot Lord', and Eli was changed to 'Sexy Beast', which I gave her no end of shit about, mind you –"

"What'd she change mine too?" Maki blurted out, too curious not too.

Nico's face went a curious shade of red. "Oh….uh, she left yours the same. Nothing interesting about it. Let's go get dinner now!"

The redhead gripped Nico's wrist before she could scurry off. "Now I really want to know."

The shorter girl shuffled her feet. "….y ….all."

"Y'all?" Mak repeated, incredulously. "That doesn't make any sense." Well, sure, Nozomi did have a bit of an accent, but it didn't seem like the type of thing she'd change a contact name to…

Nico cleared her throat and tried again, this time looking somewhat less embarrassed. "Booty Call. She changed your contact name to Booty Call." She said flatly.

Now Maki's face was _also_ a curious shade of red. "Yeah, still dumb. Let's go get dinner now."

"Oh, thank _god_."

Eventually the two found their way into a restaurant. It was spectacularly shitty or anything, but Maki had certainly seen much better. She picked at a plastic table decoration while Nico ordered for both of them. Once she'd finished, they eyed each other awkwardly for a beat, neither sure how to continue the conversation.

"So," Mak started. "Anything in particular make you pick this place?"

Nico shrugged, but looked slightly relieved. "They've got a killer breakfast menu. And, since it's dinner, they're trying to get rid of leftovers, right? So, what happens is, they load the sides on. Come in the morning and you get like, two pieces of bacon, but come at night, you get like five. Get the picture?"

"For someone so _small_ , you've got a bit of a voracious appetite." The redhead noted idly. It wasn't necessarily a question, but the way it lingered made it seem like one.

And, if the look on her dark-haired friend's face was anything to go by, she was about to get a very annoyed answer. "Look, do you have _any_ idea how great it is to have near-unlimited pancakes when every time you try to make them for yourself, they're gone in three minutes? 'Cause it's pretty great. And I do need to eat a bit more than most people. The sides are just another bonus. Bacon doesn't last long in my house, either, considering...well." She shrugged, helplessly. "It's usually all gone in a day."

"Siblings again?" Maki found it hard to imagine any of them would be able to cook it for themselves, save maybe the oldest girl, so she wasn't sure why Nico wouldn't just set aside a few pieces when she made it and – ohh, why did she look embarrassed. "…don't tell me you…all of it?" She scowled, unable to help her disappointment. "That's _really_ unhealthy, just so you know."

"I have _no_ idea how I kept getting into the fridge. At all." Nico defended.

Maki grumbled. "I'd bet it was the younger girl –"

"Cocoa." Nico supplied, leaning forward curiously.

Maki nodded. "Yeah, Cocoa – if you act the same way at home that you did at my house, I'm positive she'd open it for you."

The other girl grinned impishly. "Oh, right, I almost forgot! You got to experience my Nico-Nico charm firsthand in _both_ forms. It's hard to imagine you having such a soft spot for animals sometimes, you know? What happened to the nice Maki that gave me chicken strips?"

"You seem to have completely forgotten the context," She said in response, deadpan. "Do you happen to recall the hour long chase it took to get that damn collar on?"

Nico waved it off. "Eh, whatever. Can't put a leash on this kind of awesome. But, still, even after that, you were way nicer. What's the deal?"

She shrugged, attempting to deflect the question. "There is none. I just happen to prefer animals over people."

"Oh, god, you're one of _those_ people. That's some weird logic coming from someone who works in a hospital for _people_ , you know that?"

Maki scowled, feeling a bit defensive. "It's not like I'm some sort of completely antisocial loner that hates people. They're just easier to get along with. It's a lot easier than going out of my way to make friends."

The older girl 'hmppphed', but didn't press the point. "You're right. I don't like admitting it, but you're right. That's still a pretty skewed line of thinking, though."

"Not like there's anything to do about it," Maki said, entirely unperturbed.

Nico flashed a grin. "Well, there is _one_ thing to do…."The redhead raised an eyebrow, and the shorter girl banged her fists down on the table just as the waitress was coming by with the food. "That settles it!" She roared, followed by another pound on the table. "You're going to that park, and I'm going to make sure it goes _flawlessly_!" She pointed at Maki dramatically.

The redhead sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"What?" Nico asked, irritably.

The waitress cleared her throat, surprising Nico but not Maki, who had seen her waiting, and then quickly set the food down and fled. Maki sighed. "These pancakes had better be as good as you say they are, or I'm going to feel cheated."

Nico managed to snap out of her embarrassment enough to brag again. "Don't worry! When has the incredible Nico ever led you astray? These'll be the best pancakes you've had in your _life_!"

* * *

"I've had better." Maki said, shoving her hands in her jacket pockets as they strolled outside.

"Of course you have…" Nico grumbled. "They're still a close second though, right?"

She tipped her head to the side, debating it. "….Yeah, those were _really_ good. Not dinner food, but still really good."

Nico laughed haughtily. "Told you! And hey, anything is dinner food if you eat it for dinner, right?"

"That's a bit of a technicality," Maki started.

"Your face is a bit of a technicality," Nico mocked. "And we're way off topic! I meant what I said in the diner, call her up and tell her we're going!"

The redhead glowered at her, then made a face. "Wait, _'we'_? Who invited _you_?"

"You did, when you called me to bitch about not wanting to go, now pick up the phone and _call her_ already!" Nico fumed, and Maki had no choice but to sigh and dial for Honoka.

It rang three times, and when it was finally picked up, Honoka sounded a little out of breath. " _Hey-a, Maki!_ _You finally got back to me! Can you make it this weekend?"_

"Er, yeah, I was just wondering if I could maybe….take someone along? You remember Nico, right? She wants to come."

" _Of course she can! The more the merrier, haha! Oh, gotta run! Meet us at my house Saturday gottagobye!"_ Before she hung up, Maki thought she heard someone else shouting on the other line.

She came to the conclusion that she didn't want to know.

Nico gave her an encouraging sort of grin from about a foot or two away. "That wasn't so hard! You're officially one step closer to not being a complete shut-in! How do you feel about this development?"

"If we weren't in public, I'd hit you." Maki said honestly.

After that Nico made it a point to stay out of arms' reach whenever it wasn't crowded.

* * *

Saturday, the day of the dreaded fair, Maki spent a near hour trying to pick out an outfit, and considered bailing at the last second, but after receiving a mildly threatening text from Nico, decided against it.

She arrived at the bakery around the same time as Kotori did, giving a short wave to the other girl. "Hello."

"Hi, Maki." The other girl greeted, just as casually. She held the door open, looking inquisitive. "Are you excited? Honoka said you don't go to amusement parks often."

Maki shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I never had the time."

"We'll have fun, trust me. Just don't go into the haunted house with Umi or Honoka." She giggled.

"I feel like you're saying this from personal experience." Maki noted, raising an eyebrow.

Kotori smiled cheerily while they walked in, recalling whatever it was amusedly. "Yeah, last time we tried Umi got thrown out for punching some guy in a mask, and Honoka had to leave because she tripped over a prop and broke it. I don't even think they're allowed back in."

Maki snorted; that just about lined up with what she knew about the two. "Well, did you at least enjoy it?"

"No, I left with them." The taller girl admitted, leaning back on the counter of the shop. "Too scary for just me. Not to mention, Umi probably would have had a fit over the broken prop, so I had to help Honoka do damage control."

"Reasonable." She concluded, nodding. "Where are they, anyways? And Nico said she was already here, too. Do you think they're in the back?"

There was a loud thud from the room in question.

Kotori looked in the direction of the door, then back to Maki, then to the door again. "….Well, I guess that's our cue, hm?"

The redhead nodded curtly and they entered the room together.

About a half hour later, after sorting out an incident involving kung-fu movies and the threat of a concussion, the five of them were standing in front of the amusement park entrance, debating over whether or not they should split up.

"Well, we do have different interests, and it might be hard to get all five of us on rides at the same time." The rationalist of the group, Umi, pointed this out just after entering. Maki agreed with her, more or less. Five people seemed like a bit of a hassle.

Honoka disagreed. "But, Umiiii! We're supposed to be showing Maki around! This is her first time here! I want to see everything happen!"

Umi sighed. "Then be in Maki's group."

"But then I won't be with you and Kotori!" Honoka protested, obviously torn. "Why can't we all just go together?!"

"Because that would be impractical." Maki supplied, helpfully.

Honoka appeared to be on the brink of despair. "I can't believe this! I'm surrounded by party poopers! How could this happen?!"

"I don't blame you," Nico said flippantly, tossing her hair back. "I'd be torn too if I had to choose between traveling in a group with someone as great as me or with a couple of life-long friends."

"Get over yourself." Maki muttered, giving the girl a smack on the back of the head.

Nico glared at her while Honoka continued to mutter potential solutions under her breath. After a moment though, she lit up, eyes shining almost through her contacts. "I've got it! We'll split up, then meet up a few times afterwards and then split into _different_ groups!"

Kotori smiled encouragingly. "Oh, so, everyone gets to take turns that way?"

The orange haired girl nodded enthusiastically. " Look, first you, me, and Maki will hit up the rollercoaster type rides and the claw games while Umi and Nico do something else, then in one hour we meet up and Umi and I will get the coaster and the dropper again while you, Maki and Nico get the rest of the arcade games. Finally, you, me, and Umi will split off while Nico and Maki go into the haunted house, because they're the only ones who aren't banned."

"I….I honestly didn't expect your plan to be so thorough," Umi said finally. Then she cast a bit of a reluctant glance to Maki and Nico. "…Any objections from you two?"

The two in question exchanged looks. Maki broke eye contact first, shrugging. "None here."

"None here either, then." Nico said, echoing the younger girl.

Honoka grinned. "Then let's get started!"

* * *

"I think the only thing I've started so far is the long, painful process of giving myself a stomach ulcer." Nico moaned, slumping into the table. Umi prodded at her with the plastic fork from her salad.

"I did tell you to get something healthier. It's not my fault you wanted six corn dogs." She reminded her.

Nico moaned even louder. "They look so _good_ but they hurt so _bad_ …why do they have to do this to me? My indigestion is having indigestion!"

"You're lucky you aren't with Honoka right now. She'd have you on every fast-moving ride in the whole fair, stomachache or not." The blue-haired girl pointed out, tossing her trash into the can. "She's quite the daredevil."

The black-haired girl looked up long enough to give Umi the evil eye. "I heard that pun…. _I_ was gonna make that pun, damn it…" She grumbled.

She continued to moan about her luck for a good ten minutes or so, before Umi sighed and pulled her up by the arm. "Well, we should at least do something. Maybe walking it off will help."

While in her experience, 'walking it off' almost never did work, she did at least want to see some more of the fair. Reluctantly, Nico got up to follow the taller girl around. "So…what do you want to do? Arcade? Rides? Window-shop?"

"Hmm….I suppose I could always get a gift for my mother, and maybe one for Honoka and Kotori as well, depending on the price…" Umi frowned, tilting her head from one side to the other until she finally made up her mind. "Okay, let's check out the booths."

' _Oh, thank god_.'Nico thought. If she had to go on a ride with her stomach in this shape, she wasn't certain she'd keep it.

Hopefully she'd be this lucky with the next group.

About forty minutes passed before they met up and switched groups and, miraculously, she was. Maki seemed more or less content to _totally fucking suck_ at the arcade games, and Kotori had no complaints replaying the same song on DDR nineteen times in a row either, so Nico was spared the dilemma of looking like a chicken in front of either of them by opting out of a ride. In all the lack of movement, her stomachache even seemed to be getting better, or at least, easier to ignore.

Unlike a few other things she could name.

"Rrrgh….stupid….fucking….drums….." Maki seemed dangerously close to shoving one of the sticks through the screen of the arcade cabinet, so Nico 'gently' pulled her away from the device, doing her best not to laugh.

"Kids are beating on this thing 24 hours a day, you need to actually _hit_ it for it to recognize the drumstick." Maki made a face and turned away from Nico. She rolled her eyes. "And _I'm_ the childish one. Wow."

The redhead crossed her arms and moved over towards Kotori. "When are we going into the haunted house again?"

"Honoka wants to regroup again in half an hour, but I don't see why you guys can't go in early," Kotori suggested, checking her phone for the time. "The line gets longer right before this place closes, so it might be a good idea, anyways."

"We're going then." Maki said flatly, leaving no room for argument. "Maybe there's a coffin or something I can stuff you in."

Nico laughed. "Wow, you're a really sore loser."

Despite that, they got in line together and waited the whole annoying twenty minutes for their turn. "Two please." Nico said, passing the guy their tickets.

On the way in, she muttered to Maki, "This'd better be a good one, that was like five bucks."

"I've never been in one before, so I wouldn't be able to say." She replied. Nico grinned deviously.

This was her chance to see Maki getting scared out of her wits. A very, very rare opportunity to see her break composure. She couldn't _wait_ to get into this haunted house.

Right off the bat, the soundtrack was setting an eerie mood. Maki seemed unphased by that much, though she did grimace a little when she noticed a fake cadaver strewn across the floor behind some caution tape. "Do these people have any idea how those are actually intended to be used….?"

"Come on, it's _scary_. It's a dead body!" Nico argued irritably.

"I've _literally_ dissected dead bodies before, it's not like they're new." She shot back, just as irritable. "Come on, let's just move forward."

Much to Nico's ever-growing dismay, little to nothing in the haunted house phased Maki. Even the masked men roaring at them from around the corners and grabbing at the ends of their jackets didn't elicit so much as a squeak of fear from the redhead, while Nico herself felt her six corn dog buddies from earlier preparing to leave her every time she heard a bump in the background. Maki _did,_ however, shiver occasionally when they walked past the scenery, or when a particularly foreboding sound played, but still. None of the interactive pieces spooked her very badly.

One man in particular, wielding a dripping butcher knife and donning a ski mask, actually pretended to take a swipe at Maki, and her response was to _raise her fucking eyebrow._

The duo left the building, one feeling drained and sick and the other dissatisfied. "I don't understand why the actors are supposed to be scary." She sighed, crossing her arms. "I mean, everyone knows the people in that building can't actually hurt you, right? And most of them will move out of the way if you actually try to run or attack them back…"

"You are the _worst_ killjoy I have ever met." The older girl fumed, clutching her stomach. Being upset took too much energy right about then, it was reviving her stomachache.

Speaking of energy…."How'd it go how'd it go how'd it go?!" Honoka didn't miss a second, did she?

Nico glared over at her killjoy companion. "Haunted houses are boring with miss Maki 'the abyss is going to be the first one to look away' Nishikino over here." She grumbled. "Even the butcher guy couldn't get to her! Seriously, what the hell?!"

"Yikes. I'd hate to get on her bad side." Honoka whistled. "But, there is something else I was kind of wondering about-"

"Which is?" Nico cut in, impatiently.

Umi looked concerned. "Nico, you seem to be uncomfortable. Do you still feel ill from the corn dogs?"

Honoka snorted something about cannibalism and Nico shot her the best glare she could while remaining in a more comfortable position for her stomach, which happened to involve some degree of being doubled over. "Of course not." She replied through clenched teeth. "I'm perfectly healthy."

"You know it's okay to leave early, right?" Kotori asked, wringing her hands nervously. "It's not like we'd be disappointed or anything, we've spent almost the whole day here."

"I _said_ I'm fine, seriously." She growled. She was _not_ going to be the killjoy friend, even if by this point she seemed to be developing a fever. Nobody was going home early because of her. "Honestly, it's not like a stomachache is going to do anyth-"

"Nico. In the bathroom, _right now_." Maki carted her off to the nearest one quickly, unceremoniously dragging the smaller girl into a room, while the trio they'd come to the fair with watched in various states of what appeared to be shock. The redhead slammed the door shut behind them as soon as they were able, and locked it.

Irritated, Nico broke away and glared at the other girl, as if demanding an answer, before doing just that out loud. "What the hell is it _now_?"

Maki pressed her back against the door, shooting an equally irritated look at the older of the two. "Have you ever heard of the term 'jinxed it'? Or maybe 'spoke too soon' applies better. Your call."

"What?" She asked, nose scrunched up. When she tried to reason it out, tipping her head to the side, it clicked with her that something was wrong. Her eyes got wide. "Oh, _shit_."

"Yeah," Maki hissed back. "Kinda obvious that your little tummy-ache _did_ have a negative effect when you've got fucking _Rin-Tin-Tin's ears_ giving you away. Can you fix it or what? People are going to want to come in here sooner or later!"

"Yes!...No! I don't know! My stomach hurts!" Nico whined. "I don't like this at all, uuuuughhh! You're a doctor, fix it!"

"First off, I'm a nurse." Maki said, matter-o-factly, counting the points off on her finger. "Second, I'm not a magician, so I can't make meds just magically appear, third, does this _look_ like something I'd have learned how to treat, and _fourth_ , have you tried just _throwing up_ already?"

Nico glared again. "You think I wouldn't have done that by now if it was that easy?!"

"I was just suggesting things!" The redhead huffed, crossing her arms. "Fine! Just say it's a costume for fall fest and we'll get out of here before anything else happens, are you happy?!"

She shook her head. "Nobody else is in costume! Besides, I don't think costume ears usually _move_. Not to mention anything else, if this continues. Which it might."

Maki frowned even more deeply. It would seem virtually impossible for her eyebrows to be any lower on her face. Clearly, she wasn't pleased with this turn of events either. "So. We're stuck in the bathroom until you either get better and make it go away, or just hope nobody notices that I came in with you and came out with a 'dog' the size of a small bear that is absolutely noticeable and also definitely not allowed on the fairgrounds." She summarized flatly.

"Yes."

Maki stared at her for a while. Then she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "….Well, shit."

"No kidding."

* * *

 **AN: Gotta love filler. Hopefully it was funny enough to not be totally useless, and I did try to squeeze SOME important stuff in here, in the loosest sense of the word, heheh. I needed some way to transition into the next few days, talk a little bit more about some of the characters, and also I wanted to write it because I had a vaguely similar experience at a fair recently? Minus the werewolf part, of course, but the stomachache-inducing corn dogs? Yeah. Anyway, sorry for the slight delay, and here's to hoping Nico doesn't like, have an aneurysm or something. Cause this kind of stress can NOT be healthy. Next chapter should include: a P.O.U.S (Puppy of Unusual Size, aka Nico) A-RISE, somehow (have you SEEN tsubasa? i cant NOT put her in my story) and "Texting: Ft. Awkward Psychic Friend and Girl Whose Interest in Cats Borders on Unhealthy".**

 **I love AUs.** **  
**

 **Anyway, without further ado, thanks for reading, feel free to tell me if there was anything in particular you liked/disliked, and see you soon, hopefully!**


	5. Chapter 5

Maki had taken to pacing while Nico watched, turning her head to track the action. She'd taken up a position leaning against one of the stall walls and trying not to lose her stomach. "So, you're _positive_ that there's a no pets rule here?"

"Yes, I'm _positive_. Even if there wasn't, who the fuck brings their dog into the bathroom except –" Abruptly, Maki stopped. Opened her mouth again, then closed it.

Then she looked like someone had just given her a fucking Olympic gold medal. "Oh my god, you're actually a genius."

"….I am?" Nico echoed weakly, uncertain. Normally she was a glutton for compliments but getting one from the younger girl was…interesting. It threw her off a little, frankly. She hurriedly crossed her arms. "I mean, I can't believe it took you that long to notice! Of course my plan is going to work!"

"Okay, okay, shut the fuck up, I'm gonna call someone." The redhead said, pulling her phone out hurriedly. After a pause, they picked up. "Honoka, are there any booths out there with shades or sunglasses? Any at all?"

A pause. "Shit, really?" A longer pause. "Look, you'll know when I get out of here, okay? Or ask Umi, she'll catch on. Sorry. Bye." Maki hung up, then snapped a few times. "Who can I call, who can I call…..Rin!"

She was dialing again before Nico could actually ask. "…What exactly are you trying to accomplish, here?"

Maki blinked, then scowled a little. 'I'm on the phone', she mouthed, and Nico reluctantly backed off, ears flattened and stomach still churning away. Ugh, she felt _gross_.

While her temperamental friend tried to reach Rin on the phone, she slid down into a seated position on the floor. Gross, gross, _gross_ – but, still better than standing. Nico allowed herself a deep breath, even though it made the smell of the place ten times worse. And it _was_ getting worse.

Actively avoiding a change was a new experience. Doing so with a stomachache made it less interesting than it would otherwise be. Her gut flipped again, and she felt her nails digging into her palms. Holy shit, how long was Maki going to be trying to call this girl?! Couldn't she just ask her question so she could finish up already?! She was pretty sure this was _actual_ hell.

A third attempt met with nobody picking up, and Maki sighed and set the phone down to see Nico basically chewing a hole in her lower lip on the floor. "What's with the face? If you're constipated, you're literally _surrounded_ by toilets right now."

"Shut up, I'm trying to concentrate over here!" Nico shot back. "Do you have a plan or not, because I _really_ need to move this thing along."

The redhead looked a bit concerned. "Right, you should probably get to it. The plan was to have someone drop shades off. I was going to pretend to be blind. You know, so I'd be allowed to have an animal in the fairgrounds." She explained, carefully. "Are you alright? You've got a little something on your…"

"Yes, _I know_." She said flatly. "Do you mind turning around or something?! I need _some_ privacy!"

"S-sorry." Maki replied, alarmingly meek. She turned around and put her head in the corner. "Good?"

" _Perfect_."

Nico exhaled, feeling the knot in her chest loosen up a little. Like unraveling a ball of yarn, or sliding the last three squares of a rubik's cube into a place, it was oddly satisfying to just let it all happen. A full-body shudder passed through her, and then it was done.

Now very much canine and very much distracted by her churning stomach, she merrily began the process of retching on the floor.

* * *

Maki heard hacking. Like, really intense hacking. She shuddered a little; this sounded terrible. How did Nico deal with it on any sort of regular basis? Did she want to turn around and look?

….maybe a little.

But she wouldn't, because that would be rude.

…..fuck, she was going to look, wasn't she.

The redhead turned around, prepared for any number of uncomfortable scenes, only to find the exact same wolf form she'd been getting acquainted with recently retching right in the middle of the floor.

Her expression slowly settled into another deadpan. She wasn't sure what was worse – that'd she'd been _expecting_ something really clichéd and dramatic or that she was actually _disappointed_ to find out that nothing of the sort had happened.

Pushing that aside, it looked like the werewolf was having some success. After an extra gross-sounding retch, the next one yielded results. Maki grimaced and looked away. "God damn it, you couldn't have tried to wait until we got outside? Or tried to land it in the toilet, or something? Come on…."

Ever-oblivious, Nico wagged her tail at her. When Maki refused to pay attention, the wagging increased in speed. "Don't start with me, you idiot…."

Her phone rang, and she picked up, noting that it was Honoka. " _Hey! You said you needed shades, right? I grabbed a pair from the lost and found, do you think they'll work?"_

"I don't know, probably. If they look plain enough." Maki sighed, vexed. "I still need at the very least some kind of leash. Kind of hard for her to 'guide' me without it."

" _Oh._ " Honoka said. " _I…hm. Give me two minutes. I think Kotori can help! Stay calm!"_

She hung up, and Maki sighed wearily. "Shouting like that doesn't exactly _help_ …" She muttered unhappily. She chanced a look up at Nico, still looking at her with more cheer than she had any right to have. "What a fine mess _this_ is." She grumbled, almost accusatory in her tone.

Nico at least had the decency to look ashamed. The wolf let out a low, mourning sound.

Maki could already feel her resolve cracking. "Still your fault, idiot….don't go around eating six corn dogs and maybe this wouldn't have –"

"Hwwwoooooo…"

"Shut up."

"….hwwwwwwwwooooo _ooooooo_ …."

A wet nose prodded her left arm. Impulsively, Maki pulled the entire werewolf back with it into a bear hug. She tried to avoid thinking about how smug Nico would be about the encounter later and focused on how soft she was currently. "Stupid, stupid, stupid….." She muttered, more for her own benefit than anything else.

Regardless, her tail was thumping happily against the ground. Smug piece of shit. Stupid werewolf and her stupid soft fur and her stupid red eyes and, _shit_ , why couldn't she tell her off properly?!

Maki twirled some hair around one finger and played with Nico's ears with other.

Christ, she needed serious help.

Just as she was about to muster her efforts and stand up, go tell her dumb corn-dog-loving companion that she had to sit in the corner, the werewolf got up of her own accord and moved towards the door. She chuffed at it just as someone knocked.

"Occupied!" She called loudly.

"It's been ten minutes, how long does it take you to piss, you bitch?!"

"Who are you calling a bitch?!" She shouted back. Nico growled at the door.

There was a pause. "Is that a _dog_ in the bathroom?"

"N-no, that's my ringtone!" Maki said quickly, pulling the source of the growl away from the door. "And mind your own business! If I need to take a ten minute piss then I'm going to take a ten minute piss!"

The stranger muttered a few choice words under their breath and turned to head for the other bathrooms across the fairgrounds. Maki pulled her phone out and texted Honoka again. ' _People are starting to want to use the restroom. At least one of them saw me and Nico enter. Send help.'_

Honoka got back to her quickly. ' _ok just stay there for like 2 secks im omw'_

Then, ' _*sex'_

And then, very quickly, '* _SEXS!'_

A pause. ' _omfg * SECONDS. there'_

Maki didn't even bother responding, she just pocketed the phone and facepalmed. Nico pawed at the door. She turned to glare at the wolf. "Yeah, I'd _also_ love to leave the bathroom, but because _someone_ can't handle their junk food, we have to stay in here with wolf puke and stale piss. My favorite aromas, someone should make a roman candle scented like this because boy would it sell, a real shelf-clearer, that one, I can already –"

Something hit the door really, really, hard. The resulting shock knocked Maki away from it – thankfully not into the puke she was just complaining about – and, when she stood up and went to go yell at the impatient prick responsible, noticed the door was already open, somehow. Honoka knelt in front of Nico, slipping an…. _interesting_ , looking collar on. Interesting as in, it looked like a piece of shit. A very, _very_ flimsy piece of shit.

Duct tape made up the majority of the handle, and was what kept the collar attached to the leash, and the leash was made of something that looked like a vaguely respectable fabric but only just barely. The collar itself was made of the same material.

"What….?"

The question must have been obvious, because Honoka cheerfully held up the leash. "We used purse straps and duct tape! Alright, here's your shades –"

"Honoka are you _kidding_ me –"

"And here's the leash, now pretend I was never here!" She quickly stuck the shades on the redhead's face.

"How did you even unlock the door?!" She asked irritably.

Honoka snickered. "Nothing is ever really locked for _me_. You should probably hurry out of the fair, though! If you'll excuse me I need to get one last ride in so….see you back at my house in a bit, okay?" She managed to slip off before she had the chance to refuse.

Perfect, now she couldn't even go home right after this.

Maki drew in a deep breath, preparing herself for the biggest, deepest sigh of her life, and slowly exhaled. This was so stupid. "Are you ready to be seeing eye dog, Ni…..co….."

When she looked down to address the canine, two problems became quickly apparent: One, she didn't have a working vest for her and two, she wasn't _attached to the fucking leash_.

Holy shit.

 _Holy shit_.

Seeing a black blur rounding the corner to her left, Maki took the obvious route and ran like hell after her stupid, _stupid_ fucking friend. "Get back here!" She roared, to no effect.

Nico was making a beeline for the exact place that had started this mess: the food court.

Nearly halfway there, someone dropped part of a hot dog, and the wolf paused to try and eat it, Maki got the jump on her. She tackled her, arms wrapping securely around her neck while Nico writhed and, apparently, continued to pursue the hot dog.

Maki, being Maki, assumed this was the part where she apologized to everyone, left the fair, and didn't leave her house for five years due to the lasting shame she'd brought her family. Unfortunately, it was not the end. Vigor renewed, Nico took off again, this time much slower and with an unwilling redhead in tow.

"Stop! Moving!" She hissed, tightening her grip. Her leg just hit the foot of a bench. Maki made a mental note to kick Nico in the shins later and see how she liked it.

She held on until her arms felt ready to come off, spewing apologies and profanities in equal number as she tried to get the rouge put under control. Her new shades had cracked after a particularly rough bump against a picnic table Nico saw fit to rush past, so any hope of pleading the blind girl was out.

….Not that there was much in the first place. What kind of guide dog would drag their companion through this kind of train wreck?

Maki cursed again and tried to keep her grip, and just when she finally thought she was going to slip off, somebody with a much firmer grip wrapped their hand around the makeshift collar. When Nico shook off and tried to book it again, she didn't end up going anywhere, instead jerking against the collar, sulking, and finally, _finally_ , sitting down.

She looked up, eyes shining with gratitude. "You stopped her! Thank you so much!"

The stranger, a young woman with long purple hair, smiled, but kept most of her attention focused on Nico.

"No problem." She replied. "Quite the energetic canine you've got here, hmm?"

"She's…..Well, she's something, alright…" Maki grumbled. "A huge pain in the butt, mostly. She um, slipped her leash and darted into the fair while we were taking a walk." She lied, hoping the excuse would hold up. "I've been trying to get a good hold of her for a little bit, now."

"Sounds troublesome," The stranger agreed sagely. Then she took a moment to inspect Nico a little closer, using her free hand to angle the werewolf's head up towards her. After taking a good look, she let go, turned to face Maki, and said in a voice far more casual than the redhead would have believed possible: "You know, if she's really such a handful, I'll buy her from you. My girlfriend loves big dogs."

Holy _hell_ , was somebody actually offering to _buy_ Nico from her?! As if realizing the gravity of the situation, Nico quickly directed pleading red eyes up at Maki.

A little shaken, she shook her head no. "Oh…ah, I'm really sorry, but, I'm much too attached to her." She wanted to say, ' _Who the fuck offers to just buy pets from people out of nowhere'_ , but it seemed a little harsh.

The lady made a dissatisfied 'hmmmm', but Maki was spared the dilemma of having to go into specifics or actually argue with this lady by another voice. "Erena, are you being weird again? Your new friend seems uncomfortable."

Blinking, she turned to face the source of it, a shorter brunette strolling up to who she assumed must be Erena's side. The taller of the two scowled a little. "I'm not being 'weird', I was merely offering to take this dog off her hands. I'm certain Anju would love it."

The other girl glanced down at Nico, then to Maki, and sighed. "Sorry about this, I'm sure she didn't mean to come off as strange. That is a very lovely dog, though."

Maki nodded awkwardly. She wasn't sure who this girl was either, but she sounded like she knew what she was doing, so she might as well just go along with everything by this point. "Yes, sure."

"Do you mind if I pet him?" She asked, gesturing to Nico.

"Her. And sure, go for it." The redhead agreed. Nico looked a little antsy, and Maki kind of wished she could reassure her, but it would be a little strange to do that in front of people, so she'd have to settle for apologizing later. The brunette knelt and ran her hands through the softer fur by the werewolf's head and neck.

"How long have you had her?" This girl seemed set on having a conversation, didn't she? Even her friend Erena seemed dubious about the whole thing.

Maki twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "Not too long, actually. I found her limping around the street a few days ago, and nobody has claimed her since then, and she seems to like me well enough, so…." She shrugged.

The other girl nodded appreciatively. "I was just curious….you know, this is a strange looking dog, is all. I was wondering if you might be able to tell me what kind it is."

"Mixed breed." She replied instinctively. "Maybe, uh, a hybrid, of some sort? The vet said there might be some –"

"Wolf, right?" She interrupted.

Maki shifted uncomfortably. "Yes, how did you know?" Read, ' _Can you please leave us alone now?'_

"Just had that feeling, is all." She replied casually, finally standing up. She eyed Nico one last time. "Be careful with that thing, then. Wolf hybrids are - well, she's probably dangerous, you hear?" She advised, then yawned and played it off with a stretch, somehow. "Ah, well, we've taken up enough of your time."

"It's fine, really." Maki said, not really meaning it but not wanting to be rude, either. Just as they were about to actually part ways, who should come running up but Honoka, at the least convenient time.

' _Damn it_ ,' Maki cursed internally. She didn't like all the attention being placed on Nico right now, and something about that word, dangerous...it brought her back to the first (technically third) time she met Nico, actually met her - and she knew it was probably rubbing her the wrong way.

"Maki! What are you still doing here?" She asked, head tipped to the side. "I had everyone else leave too, they're all probably at the car right now." Then, as if noticing the other two girls for the first time, she looked them over. "Oh, are these your friends?"

"We just met, actually." Came the redhead's forced response. Nico was squirming too. She let out a small whine and Maki had to shush her.

"We've actually never properly introduced ourselves, have we?" Surprisingly, it was Erena that spoke. Unsurprisingly, Maki felt like doing exactly the opposite, but, again, social conventions forced her to do otherwise. "I'm Erena."

The brunette perked up. "Tsubasa. Pleasure to meet you."

"Maki. Likewise."

Honoka bounced on the heels of her feet. "And I'm Honoka! Nice to meet you both!"

Tsubasa smiled. "Seems to me you're having more fun than Maki here."

The orange haired demon scoffed. "I'm having just enough fun for the both of us! She's just pooped because she had to do a lot of walking."

Nico whined again. Maki decided to take the opportunity to leave. "Oh, well, it's been nice, but I really do need to get her off the fairgrounds. I'll be seeing you. Goodbye." She dismissed herself, leaving Honoka behind to do a little talking. She didn't miss how the two girls' eyes followed her as she left, though.

A few people looked at her weird, including and especially the security, but she must have looked roughed up enough that nobody bothered to ask why she had an animal on the grounds. Maki kept a good grip on the collar, but Nico didn't appear to be in any rush to run off again. She kept herself firmly pressed against Maki's side.

Well, at least there were _some_ small mercies. She made it to the car intact.

"What happened to y-"

"Don't want to talk about it." She interrupted gruffly. Maki settled into the backseat, followed by Nico, who settled into the entire back _row_ , opting to lay her head down on her lap. Maki absentmindedly scratched it. Frankly, she was too fed up to even be mad. Umi and Kotori opted to remain quiet and take the front seats.

She didn't even notice when she dozed off.

* * *

Nico shifted uncomfortably on the car seats, trying to angle her head so that she could look at Kotori and Umi. "..how long do I have to stay like this, exactly…?" She asked, just a bit weakly.

"Until she wakes up." Umi said, crossing her arms to give the statement a sense of finality. "Frankly a little bit of public humiliation is in order after the antics you put her up to. You're lucky we're in the back of the car and not on a bench somewhere."

"Ugh, yeah, I know already, I fucked up, my bad, okay?" She grumbled. "I just don't see how acting as her _snuggle buddy_ is going to make up for anything."

Maki had managed to fall asleep before Honoka had even made it to the car. Nico did too, but she woke up once the bubbly girl got there to ramble about getting someone's number – woke up, conveniently, in her human form – and was met with a slight problem.

The redhead was still asleep, and, having fallen asleep holding Nico's head in her lap…..well, yeah. Even after the change back, Maki's arms remained firmly on her head, weighed down with sleep. It was more than a little embarrassing. Umi and Honoka had flat out refused to let her move though, the former pointing out how exhausted and annoyed Maki was due to Nico's own lack of impulse control, and the latter stating that it was too cute to break apart. So now she just sort of had to hope that Maki would wake up when they got back to Honoka's shop.

A possibility that became more and more enticing as Maki started muttering things and occasionally tightening her grip on Nico's hair. "…mhhmm…no…yes, extra...tomatoes…then…. go….going to….perate."

Honoka looked as if she was physically pained by holding her laughter in.

"You're dead to me," Nico mouthed.

"Cool." She whispered back, still seconds away from bursting into laughter.

Maki mumbled something else about food and then an open-heart surgery. What the _fuck_ did this girl dream about?! She huffed and squirmed a little bit on the seat, since it was all she could really do.

When they pulled up to the shop, Maki stirred. Nico silently thanked whatever deity was watching out for her. What was supposed to be a more gentle awakening was rudely interrupted when Maki's phone went off, a piano started playing, and she sat bolt upright in the car, throwing the black-haired werewolf off just as quickly. The vaguely familiar song continued while they argued.

"AAAAAHHH!"

"What the hell were you doing on my lap?!"

" _Ooooh, you can dance, you can dance –"_

The song continued as Maki ignored her ringing phone.

"You're the one who fell asleep on top of me!" She accused.

" _Hav-ing the time of your liiiiife-"_

"What does that have to do with anything?!"

"Everything, just pick up your phone already!"

"Shit –"

" _See that girl, watch that scene, diggin the dancing qu_ _-"_

"Hello?" Maki said breathlessly as she cut off the ringtone, finally picking the phone up. "Rin, are you there?"

Nico could just barely make out a voice on the other end – not enough to hear what they were actually saying, but enough to get a sense of the tone. They squeaked out about a half a sentence – probably worried, she thought idly. Wasn't Maki trying to contact Rin while they were both still in the bathroom? She'd certainly be worried if she found three missed calls from someone like _Maki_.

The nurse in question frowned at whatever was being said. "Wait, wait, who is this? Why can't Rin pick up the phone?"

More mumbling from the other end.

"Hanayo _who_? Wait, wait, wait, you don't mean –"

They hung up on Maki abruptly. She stared at her phone in disbelief, and not ten seconds later she got a text message. "What, the fuck…." She muttered, face scrunching up in that – kind of cute - grimace of hers as she tapped out a response.

"What's going on?" Nico asked, adjusting herself on the couch so she could read what was being said. Maki somehow seemed unfazed by that, probably because she was too busy being confused by whatever she was talking about.

 _Msg from: Rin_

 _'can we please talk over text now? its loud'_

' _I don't think I was being that loud. And more to the point, you did say you were Hanayo, right? As in, Rin's imaginary friend? Care to elaborate?'_

' _im not imaginary we just havent met irl, ok? rin says youre pretty nice though' –_ Nico snorted when she read that, but continued, ' _but that's not the point are you ok why did you call so much is someone dead? please tell me nothing rly bad happend'_

Maki frowned and typed out a fast response. ' _Honestly?_ _I'm too tired to deal with this bullfuckery_ _._ _'_

"Hey, that was uncalled for." Nico scolded. "She sounds like she was just concerned about you."

The redhead winced. "Okay, fair. I'll apologize."

' _Okay, so that was a little rude. Sorry, I'm just in a bad mood.'_

No response. "Great going, you scared her off." Nico said, stretching out on the couch. Now Maki found it in herself to glare at her.

"Why exactly are you reading my private conversation, again?"

"Felt like it." Nico said, easily.

She frowned. "What if I 'feel like' pushing you out of the car?"

"Then it'd be a good thing we're stopped." She replied, arms crossed.

Maki huffed just as her phone pinged again. She opened the message, and Nico went right back to snooping, again not being met with any resistance.

 _Msg from: Rin_

 _'MAKI! Why are u being mean to kayo-chin? That's so mean how could u!'_

' _I didn't even know she was an actual person until today! I thought she was an imaginary friend!'_

' _Shes not tho! I told you that! You made her cry omg say sorry right now'_

Maki cringed again. Nico didn't even need to gloat about how she made some girl cry, it was obvious enough from her face that it's what she'd be doing. Maki sent her a dirty look before responding.

' _I'm SORRY okay? I already tried to apologize, too. I'm sorry for being so skeptical._ '

There was a pause. ' _No come over here and apologize to her. Shes upset and you obvsly need proof shes real anyways, so drive your skeptic butt to my house right now'_

Nico raised her eyebrow about as high as it could go. "Wow, I didn't take Rin for the passive aggressive type. You messed up bad."

The redhead just groaned. "Shiiiiiit….."

She tapped out one more response. ' _Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I'll be at your house soon.'_ Then she turned to shoot Nico a look of utter panic. "Okay, now what?"

"Since when was this _my_ problem?" She asked, trying to back out of the car while she still had the chance. If she could just get into the shop and start a conversation, Maki's weird thing for manners would kick in and she'd have to leave without Nico.

"Since right now when you read over my shoulder." She countered, arms crossed. "Besides, after today, you owe me big time."

Nico deflated. As much as she'd love to counter that, it was true, and she hated owing people anything. "Uuuuughhhhhh. You're terrible. We're both terrible. Get out of the car, we're buying your friends some apology candy first."

Maki let out a sigh of what Nico had to assume was relief.

Well, on the bright side, since she was getting involved, at least whatever was going to happen at Maki's friends' place couldn't be a _complete_ train wreck, right?

Right.

* * *

 **AN: So, A-RISE is bein weird over Nico, which is never a good sign, and we're finally going to meet Hanayo for real, and there shouldn't be any new characters after that! Minus Anju I guess, but it could take a while for A-RISE to come back so. Yeah. Also don't ask me why _Dancing Queen_ is Maki's ringtone for Rin. it was going to be _Wannabe_ by the Spice Girls but I figured that's been done before? Also this is the only really overplayed song I can see Maki actually using for some reason? Nico, on the other hand, could have any of them. I'm tempted to recycle the joke for the express purpose of picking a really corny song for her, but I don't know. **

**Anyways, I'm pumped because now I can bring Nozomi back in to be the world's worst(best?) wingman ever. Heheh, anyways, I'm trying to work on using time cuts less because I'm like 97% sure why that's why everything always seems so rushed from me? And I'll be honest, none of these following chapters are as good as the first. And, even though I know that's ok, sometimes, I'd still like to try and recapture that one, solidly good style I used for the first chapter of the story. So if any of you guys have writing tips, I'm game.**

 **That aside, in reference to Anon's comment, I'm really glad this story is giving off a casual vibe, because that's exactly what I was going for! I just, I don't know, I feel like there isn't that much casual supernatural stuff? I just think it's funny to imagine everyday life and also incredible fuck-ups and how they'd pan out with the additional problems that come with being part of some sort of mythological species, you know? And the potential for humor is ripe there. So, I planned on this being mostly fluff (physical or otherwise) and jokes while these dorks gradually get their shit together and fall in love.**

 **As for Kirika, tbh that's exactly the kind of cliche that I adore and if I can find a way to put it in I am 1000% here for Protective Gay Wolf Baby Nico as well as putting wolfy Nico in more chapters.**

 **As always, thanks so much for reading, sorry for rambling a little in the AN section, and tell me if there was anything you liked/disliked about the story! See you soon.**


	6. Chapter 6

Hands folded over her knees, Maki fought the urge to play with her hair. She gripped the container of sweets and hoped that Hanayo, whoever she was, was a fan of red bean paste. Nico was driving because Maki had wanted her hands free in case she got a text halfway there that she didn't actually have to come.

"Don't get your hopes up," Nico had grumbled, though she was more than willing to take the wheel. "But there's nothing to be scared of. Rin looked pretty straightforward. If she wants an apology, then that's all she wants."

"I don't know if you've noticed but I tend to have a hard time with stuff like this!" She shot back, irritably.

Nico scoffed. "You're too tsun to function. I can't believe you're a _nurse_."

Maki scowled. "Well personally, I can't believe a walking safety hazard like _you_ is trusted with children."

"Hey, I take good care of my siblings, okay? They're way safer with me than anywhere else, trust me." Nico said, shooting Maki an irritated look.

"Fair point." The redhead admitted begrudgingly. "But seriously, how much longer do you think it'll be for us to get to Rin's place? The anxiety is going to kill me. I hope she's not _too_ upset…."

"Not too far now. And chill out, seriously."

Maki grumbled the rest of the way to Rin's house, but before they got out of the car, she took a deep breath. This couldn't be too hard.

Just as she stood at the door, poised to knock, she heard shouting from inside.

"SOMEBODY SAVE MEEEEEE!" The unfamiliar voice from the phone shouted, scrambling away.

"You finally get to meet one of my friends! Come ooooooooooooonnnnnnnn! She'll be here any second!"

Did she knock, or….?

"Oh for fuck's sake…." Nico pounded on the door loudly. "VISITORS!"

There was a short silence from inside. A moment later, Rin cracked the door open, eyes gleaming. "Hi, Maki! Come in! Hanayo is waiting for you, nya!"

"Right…." Maki responded warily. Rin didn't seem that upset, but Hanayo certainly did. Did she really hurt her feelings that badly?

"Ummm…..no, not really…."

Immediately, she turned to face the source, a short girl with brown hair and glasses. She flinched at the sudden movement. "Sorry!"

"Um…what…." Maki shook her head. "No, I came here to apologize to you. Sorry." What was with this girl…? Rin sure knew how to pick them, didn't she…

Hanayo tensed up again. "Riiiiiiiin!" She cried plaintively, "I knew it, she thinks I'm weird!"

"H-hey, I never said that! You're fine!" Maki defended.

Behind her, Nico whistled. "Wow, you're about to make her cry again and you've only managed three sentences. Nice one, Maki."

"You stay out of this!" She snapped, before returning her attention to Hanayo. "Come on, I'm serious! Please don't – do….that….." Abruptly, Hanayo had settled down, now looking between Nico and Maki, conflicted. Puzzled, the redhead turned to Rin. "Umm….is she okay?"

Rin shrugged. "She'll sort it out. I just want her to be more social, nya? Kayo-chin never leaves the house. I wanted to see if she could at least handle meeting you, but I didn't expect two people at once…." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Eheheh, but, it's too late for second guessing, right?"

"I feel like there's some sort of reason she doesn't like to get out…..?" Maki asked, sparing another glance for the brunette. ' _Does she get overwhelmed very easily? I can kind of understand that…..'_

Nico seemed to be having a staring contest with Hanayo, but she abruptly broke it, wheeling around to face Maki. "Hey, Maki, do you hear any of that?"

"Hear any of what?"

"Shit, she wasn't kidding." Nico mused, running a hand through her hair. "Okay, _now_ I believe you."

"Believe _what_?" Maki whined. "Why do I feel like everyone is forgetting to tell me something?!" So far all she'd done was be confused and stand awkwardly in the center of the room holding sweets that nobody appeared to have noticed.

Hanayo pushed her glasses up, looking as skittish as ever. "Ah, I don't like being left out, either. It's hard to do though. I'm a psychic – you don't need to say things out loud for me to hear them, but some things just aren't supposed to be heard…..you know?"

Maki sighed. "So I guess there's no point in saying I don't believe that, either." She said flatly.

"Nope!" Rin said cheerfully. She slid up to Hanayo's side like an overeager kitten. "See, look! I told you they wouldn't be upset! Now you have _five_ friends! It's so easy!"

"Yeah, easy for you to _say_ …" She mumbled, looking upwards. "I almost had a heart attack when they got to the door!"

Rin pouted. "Awww, don't say things like that! I was going to bring you rice from that shop downtown!"

She froze. "You're still going to, right?"

"You should come out and eat with us!" Rin enthused.

Hanayo quickly made an 'X' shape with her forearms. "No way! Do you know how noisy it is? I'll die!"

"Stop being so draaaammmmaaaaatiiiiiiiiiiic, Kayo-chin!" Rin groaned, as she dramatically feigned hurt by leaning so hard against a counter she might as well have laid down on it.

Nico pulled Maki aside while they were having their fun. "I can't believe you were worried about _these two dorks_ being mad at you." She said, gesturing to the duo in the front room.

She flushed. "To be fair, it's hard to discern tone from texting. She might have been mad."

"Might have. Not was." Nico pointed out.

"Can it, furball." She shot back.

The older girl glowered. "I resent that."

"How about shortstop, then?"

Nico huffed. "Fine! See if I drive you to your friend's house again! I'm not your babysitter, anyways!"

"Sure feels like I'm _yours_ though." Maki crossed her arms, leaning against the door. Neither of the two noticed Rin and Hanayo quieting down and exchanging looks.

"I'm older than you!"

"By what, two years? That's kind of insignificant when you consider that only one of us thought it would be a brilliant idea to just keep eating corn dogs until they –"

Nico scowled. "Am I ever going to hear the end of that?!"

"That was literally less than three hours ago!" Maki retorted, arms still crossed. She glared at the shorter girl like it was possible to scold her that way. Nico frowned right back.

Seriously, what was with the short term memory? She couldn't have _forgotten_ that she did that – even if she couldn't recall actually doing it, she was at least responsible for the corn dog mess. At least she owned up to it, though.

They were interrupted during the lull in actual speaking. "Do you do this often….?" Hanayo asked, hesitantly . Rin peeked curiously over her shoulder. Maki tried to avoid eye contact.

She and Nico exchanged glances. "No," They said in unison.

Rin abruptly burst into laughter. Her friend looked pretty damn amused, herself, too. Nico was less so. "What's so funny?!"

"Do you – do you -" Rin repeated herself on accident, since she was laughing too hard to keep track of what she'd already opened with – "Do you seriously think lying will work on a psychic and an empath? You two are ridiculous!"

Maki immediately stiffened. "Wh-wh – hey, what's that supposed to mean?!"

"An empath…" Nico muttered. "What's an empath, again?"

"An empath," Rin started cheerfully, ignoring Maki's indignant question in favor of answering Nico's real one, "Is someone who can sense the way others are feeling, nya! Mostly what it means is that if Hanayo can read your mind, then I can read your emotions! Take Maki for example –"

The mentioned redhead sputtered. "Do _not_ use me as an example –"

Rin pressed on anyways. "I found out in high school that she actually really likes being hugged, even if she tells you to get off. Kind of like a really stand-offish kitty," She giggled. Nico gawked at her while Maki grew progressively redder, running a list of every other embarrassing thing Rin could bring up. "Oh, and also, she likes –"

"That's probably enough!" Hanyo interrupted, obviously embarrassed by proxy. Which actually made sense, considering the whole mind reading thing…..oh, god, she'd basically just told Hanayo every embarrassing thing she'd ever done. Fuck. Maki bit her lip to avoid cursing out loud.

Hanayo sent her a sympathetic look. Maki wanted to die all over again.

Suddenly there was a pair of arms around her stomach. "Aww, Maki, if you wanted a hug you could have just asked! The great Nico always provides!" She looked down to see the black-haired girl with the biggest, most shit-eating grin she'd seen in her life.

"Get your arms off me or I'll remove them for you." She said icily. If looks could kill, Nico Yazawa would be a dead girl.

Instead she just laughed nervously and peeled herself off, looking like she'd just seen a ghost. "Heh, of c-course! I mean, s-since you asked so nicely, and all….ha a h a…."

Rin blinked, recovering before her all-but-wilted friend. "Wow, I don't think I've ever seen Maki look so scary!"

She crossed her arms. "If all goes well, you won't ever have to again. Now, I think you mentioned dinner?" Unlike Nico, she hadn't eaten anything at the fairgrounds, and at this point it was getting fairly late. Besides, Nico should be hungry too, considering most of her food didn't stay down.

"Oh, right! Are you still thinking about going to that rice place?" Speak of the devil. Nico had cheered up near-completely and was now eagerly asking about the food. Go figure. Maki fought off a smile.

Rin didn't, though, breaking into a grin. "Yeah! Let's all go together!" A pause. "Yes, that means you too, Kayo-chin!" The mentioned was trying to sneak off to another room. "You should come! And I mean, in person! We can all eat together, nya!"

"I don't really want to…" She replied, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaase?"

Hanayo frowned and looked away. "I don't want to."

"You're absolutely positively sure?" Rin asked, still sounding a little hopeful. Hanayo nodded. Rin pouted. "Okay… I'll bring some food back, then."

Maki awkwardly left the candy on an end table by the front of the room. They'd find it later. It wasn't until they were out the door and nearing the car that Maki even wanted to speculate. She pulled Nico aside while Rin got in the front seat. "That was kind of pathetic, don't you think?"

"Agreed." Nico said curtly. "I'd say your friend here is suffering from a severe case of being a total pushover."

Maki sighed. "I kind of want to help, but I don't really want to meddle, either. Should I leave it up to her?"

"Probably." The older girl shrugged. "I mean, it worked out well enough for _my_ friends, so I'm sure yours will figure it out. And if not, I happen to know the world's best meddler, so I'm sure it'll all turn out well. We should get in the car now. Rin and Hanayo are waiting."

"Wait, Hanayo isn't coming," Maki said, confused. "Unless she changed her mind and got into the car before we did…?"

Nico shook her head again. "She's a psychic and junk, remember? She's not coming in person, but I think Rin might be taking her along for the ride anyways, somehow. Ask her about it, alright?! I'm not the supernatural expert, you know. I just hear Hanayo telling us to hurry the hell up."

Why couldn't anything be simple? Maki heaved an even deeper sigh than the first and got into the backseat of the car. "Rin, what does she mean Hanayo is coming with us?"

Rin glanced up from her phone, which she evidently had been on while she was waiting for the other two to get in the car. "Nya? Oh! Since Kayo-chin and I are so compatible, I'm a really good soundboard for her psychic-y magic stuff. I take her with me most of the time, she just can't really talk to other people this way. Nico seems to be an exception, but it's probably just 'cause she's a werewolf." She shrugged. "Supernatural thing, I guess."

"Amazing." Maki said flatly, as she pointedly ignored Nico sticking her tongue out at her from the passenger seat. She buckled herself in the back, alone. "Anything else I should know?"

"Depends, nya!" Rin snickered.

This was maybe, sort of, kind of testing her patience. Maki put on the pleasant tone and expression she used for annoying people at the hospital. "Okay, then, why don't we ask about any other unusual abilities that you may, or may not, end up using while we go eat dinner?"

Rin winced. Right, lying didn't work. Maki winced too; she probably sounded like an asshole. "Oh, don't be mad or anything! I'm just saying stuff. Um, nothing else should really be relevant, but, sometimes – not today because I'm mad at her – Hanayo and I switch places."

"What, like a power swap? Is that even possible?" Nico asked, head cocked to the side. The orange haired girl shook her head.

"No, sort of more like…..I let her possess me…?" She said, wringing her hands together. "It's not as creepy as it sounds, really."

Okay, what the _fuck_. Maki didn't say anything, but Nico seemed to mirror her disbelief. "Are you _serious_?"

"It's not like we do it often!" Rin defended. "And, it's not like it's that surprising, right? Projecting something into someone's mind is hard enough to do, but if she can already get in there, it would make sense that she can also kick people out." She reasoned.

"That is _exactly_ as creepy as it sounds." Maki pointed out.

Rin sulked. "She doesn't like the way you're talking about her."

"It sounds like neither of you like it." Nico said dryly. "Look, just, I'm not upset, just uncomfortable. We get that Hanayo is a nice person. I've already gone over that with her. Maki is a huge baby so I'm sure she's not actually mad either."

"I am _not_ a huge baby!" She grumbled, arms crossed. "Actually, you know what? Who cares. I literally don't think I have it in me to be weirded out by anything, ever again. Tell Hanayo we're cool. Let's just go get something to eat."

Rin let out a sigh of relief and started up the car.

* * *

The food was good, and they were eating in good company. Rin was regaling them with stories of what happened on the track team in high school – apparently hosting team parties got a little wild, considering how many people were on the track and field team – and Hanayo would throw in her two cents every now and then, but not often since Maki couldn't hear.

Speaking of whom…..Maki held her conversations normally, and if there was something wrong, Rin certainly didn't point it out, but something was still rubbing her the wrong way. She tried to work through it while the redhead was explaining the rigors of medical school, but nothing came of it. Instead she just ended up accidentally zoning out, then looking like a jerk for doing so when Rin asked for her opinion on it.

Well, too late to fix that, she guessed.

After a lot of pondering and no decent answer, she came to the conclusion that Maki must just be tired. Frankly, Nico herself was a bit too tired to be a thrilling conversationalist, so she understood where the redhead was coming from on that end.

They said their goodbyes, and, since Nico had to be dropped off, Maki was the one driving her back to her place. It'd happened a few times, she already knew where it was.

Rather than bickering, they were quiet most of the ride. It was nice, if a little strange.

Nico hopped out of the car when they came to a stop and yawned, stretching. "Thanks. Kind of a longer day than usual, huh?"

"No kidding." She replied, sounding tired herself. "Well, see you later, I guess –"

"Oh, wait! Before you go, I –" Nico tried to think of the least sarcastic sounding way she could put it, knowing that they were prone to argument. "Thanks. For, y'know, all that stuff earlier? Um, I probably would've been in trouble, is what I mean, so –"

"You're welcome. Get some sleep."

Nico nodded and stepped into her house. Once she was in, she made way for her bed. "Not so antisocial after all, huh? …..like a really stand-offish kitty." She snorted at the memory of Rin's description of the redhead, before finally moving past the hall.

"You're home late," A mature voice admonished. Nico froze, then tipped her head down sheepishly.

"Sorry, mama. I got distracted." She admitted, wandering into her mother's room. She seemed to be up doing paperwork.

For her part, she didn't seem upset. Probably because there wasn't much to be upset about; Nico came home late fairly often, considering how often the front door got opened. As long as she had a key with her, it didn't matter. "I saw your friend dropping you off, is she new? I don't think I've met her before. If she's doing things late at night with my baby though, you'll have to introduce me…." She trailed off playfully.

Nico suddenly decided she had better places to be looking, as in, anywhere _but_ at her mom. "H-hey, it wasn't like that! Cut it out, I just met her a week ago!"

"So I've heard. She certainly made an impression on Cocoa, she tells me she wants to be a doctor now. Is your friend a doctor?" Her mom wasn't letting up.

"Nurse, actually," Nico corrected, for no reason at all. Damn. Maki was rubbing off on her, apparently. "I met her last Friday, remember? Just after Halloween?"

"Oh, so she took care of you after you got hit by that car?" She asked, a mischievous glint in her eye. "Did she have to feed you?"

Mortification had a name and it was Nico Yazawa. "Mama! Oh my god, no!"

She muffled her laughter. "Sorry, sweetie. That was the last one, I promise. Did you two have fun doing whatever it was you were out there doing?" Nico stiffly shook her head yes. "Then it's fine. Go to bed, Nico. A growing girl needs her rest!"

"I'm twenty-one years old!"

"So you admit you'll be that height forever?"

" _MAMAAA!"_ She whined.

* * *

Nico woke up with the smell of corn dogs still heavy in her nose. Dreams had a strange sense of humor, didn't they? Though, she supposed that cleared a few things up for her. Bits and pieces, scraps of what happened at the fair – dragging Maki around, looking for something that smelled too good to be true, purple hair – details that wouldn't fit into any one category, really. Had she seen Nozomi at the fair or something? She would've thought she'd remember something like that….

Once her head was clear though, the actual smell was more obvious: eggs.

She rolled out of bed and shuffled towards the front room, finding a sticky note next to her plate.

' _Had to leave early! You were sleepy so I didn't wake you, but I left some breakfast. More in the fridge for the kids! – mom'_

Nico smiled before she discarded the note. All in all, this was probably the nicest wake-up she'd had in a while….the eggs were still lukewarm, so she didn't bother warming them up, but as soon as she sat down to eat them, someone knocked on the door.

She grumbled and went to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Nico, can we borrow you for a little bit?" Eli asked, gesturing back to the car, where Nozomi gave the shorter girl a wave. She blinked.

"Eli? What are you – do you want to come in again? My siblings still aren't up." She offered. "Nozomi can come, too."

The blonde looked over to the car. Nozomi shook her head no. Eli shrugged helplessly. "She appears to think it's important we talk at our house."

Nico cocked her head to one side. " 'Our house'? You two live together now?"

"For almost two years," Eli said, bashfully, playing with a strand of her hair. For some reason, she looked particularly lovestruck today. More than usual, somehow. "I was going to ask you to help us move in but Nozomi said you'd most likely be babysitting. Sorry about that, by the way – I should have tried harder to keep in touch…"

She waved it off. "My phone broke a few months after high school. I lost all my contacts and was too lazy to re-find everyone. My fault, really."

Eli shook her head. "We're getting off topic, Nozomi wants to discuss something." The girl in question had gotten out of the car and was meandering up the driveway, calm as can be.

"It doesn't look like it's urgent enough to disrupt my breakfast," Nico pointed out dryly.

Nozomi smiled wryly. "Come on, now that I've gone and bothered you I'm sure you're at least curious, right?"

"Maybe a little," She admitted begrudgingly. "But I still have things to do!"

"Things that can wait." The taller girl countered. "I think something a little more important has come up."

Nico scoffed. "Like _what_?"

"Just trust us on this, Nico!" Nozomi said, insistently. She tugged at the shorter girl's wrist.

"Hey! Someone still needs to watch my siblings! I can't just run off whenever! And my breakfast –"

Eli pulled her phone out. "I'll call Alisa over and she can come babysit, there's food at Nozomi and I's house, and we _really_ want you to come over for just an hour or two. Please?"

Nico glanced between her two old friends. Ugh, she was getting roped into something stupid again, wasn't she? " _Fiiiiiiine_. Let me leave a note so they know I wasn't like, kidnapped – even though I was – and then we'll go to your house, losers."

* * *

"Alright, I've eaten. Now what was so important that you two had to come get me from my house at nine?" True to their word, her friends actually let her eat her breakfast before loading whatever the problem must be onto her. While she ate, she looked around the place. It looked….really fitting, for Nozomi at least, but she could see some signs of organization in the chaos. It was clear enough that Eli lived there too. Hanging plants, a bookshelf full of mystery novels and terrible romantic comedy movies (it was actually hard to tell whose that was) a few dance trophies (this one was easy) and a dozen different mugs featuring puns – that was just what she could see from the kitchen and the front room.

It was homey. She wondered what her place would look like when she finally moved out.

Nozomi grinned over from where she'd been waiting patiently at the counter, leading Nico out to the front room as she spoke. "Remember when I sent Elicchi over to tell you something big would be happening soon?" She looked like she was actually bubbling with energy. Nico raised an eyebrow. Nozomi wasn't usually so….enthusiastic.

The trio settled into the couches, Nico on the green one on one side of the coffee table and the couple on the other, orange-ish couch. She didn't bother setting her coffee mug down, instead opting to sip at it as they talked.

"Really, really soon-" Eli chipped in, looking just as excited as Nozomi. They exchanged a look. Nico had to avert her eyes in case they decided they didn't want to keep it PG anymore.

"Can you just tell me what the problem is already?" She asked, fidgeting nervously. "I mean, I'm not sure what's going on over here, but I still can't even tell if it's good or not."

"Wait, _problem_?" Nozomi giggled, covering her mouth with a hand. "You thought there was a problem? Oh, no, Nico, there's not a problem! I guess the news did seem a little vague in retrospect. Elicchi thought that I was talking about a problem, too, at first. She must have worried you."

Nico blinked. "There's not? Then why do you guys want me to make a few 'good friends'? Why did Eli tell me I should date Maki, or even mention –"

Eli cut her off there. "I was a little anxious, on, that particular day, because of something I had planned," She said sheepishly. "I didn't want anything going wrong so when Nozomi said 'tell Nico something important will happen soon' I kind of…panicked. I made it sound more urgent than it should've sounded. But it is good news. And when I brought up the whole 'cure' thing, it was unrelated. Our advice still applies, though – really, consider it." She shook her head. "I'm getting off topic. The point is, don't worry, this is a good type of important."

"A _very_ good type of important." Nozomi concluded, looking as though she was biting her lip to keep from grinning too wide.

The shortest of the trio was getting ready to pull her hair out. If these two gays finished each other's thoughts _one more time_ , and kept being all secretive and giddy, she was going to flip their coffee table right into that stupid glass display case behind their stupid green couch. She took another sip of her coffee before trying one more time to get to the point. "Okay, then _what_ is happening soon?"

Eli gave her another eager smile, and, after glancing over at Nozomi once, as if to ask if she could give the information, finally gave the message. "We're getting married, and we want you to be Nozomi's best girl."

Nico dropped the mug she was using.

* * *

 **AN: The phrase 'something important is happening soon' can be taken optimistically or pessimistically. I'm sure you can guess which Nico decided to take before this, haha. This is the reason Nozomi wanted Nico to try and woo Maki though - Nico can bring a date to the wedding! Only Nozomi would still try to play matchmaker at _her own_ _wedding._ Haha, but, since this was the important event that Eli mentioned would happen soon, it does mean that the plot with A-RISE isn't going to happen as quickly. So A-RISE is pretty much just going to be this awkward, sort of mysterious presence in the background for now, but they'll make appearances even then. Mostly with Honkers because she wants everyone to be friends irregardless of whether or not said friends are made really, really uncomfortable by each other. Also: Rin and Hanayo are cute, but I have no clue what I'm doing with them. Anyone want to help me out with characterization for them? I'm lost.**

 **That aside, Guest asked how big wolfy Nico was. I'm glad you asked because I'm terrible and had a lengthy response prepared beforehand: Ironically, Nico is pretty big. The average grey wolf can get to be almost three feet tall at the _shoulder_. As a comparison, Maki is about 5'3 exactly, so Nico would be at a height where her head would be about level with Maki's stomach. She could headbutt her pretty solidly. If you've ever seen a great dane, that's how big I'm talking, and she's got some extra volume cause of all that fluff, too. Anyway the long and short of it is, Cotarou could totally hitch a ride. So could the other two, but only one at a time - wolves only weigh like 110, so too much weight could hurt her back. She's a big misbehaving baby.**

 **PS, Sweatpants: DANCING QUEEN, FEEL THE BEAT FROM THE TAMBORIIIIINE,,,**

 **Haha, anyways, thank you all for reading, tell me if there's anything you liked/disliked, and see you soon, hopefully!**

 ***Edit: Apparently when I was adding Eli to the characters list I accidentally changed the language to Norweigian? ? ? Sorry about that, I changed it back but it might take a bit to show that haha**


	7. Chapter 7

The mug fell from her hands. Frankly, she only noticed when she heard it shatter against the floor. Shit, now she'd have to pick it up later. Nico tried to ignore that and focus on the more important news. "You're getting _married?!_ Guys, that's – that's awesome! I mean you've only been dating for like, forever." She said off-handedly, trying to maintain some of her cool. She decided to push the pressure onto Eli. "Took you long enough to ask, dweeb." She scolded the blonde.

Eli's face flushed. "Nozomi asked me first, actually."

"Wait, seriously?" Nico blinked. She….hadn't expected that. Nozomi shrugged when the shorter girl turned to look at her.

"Eli went out and got a ring a while ago, but she was too nervous to propose. She only ever ended up giving it to me after I proposed to her." She muffled a laugh behind her hand. "Elicchi looked so embarrassed I almost suggested we pretend she proposed first."

Nico grinned wryly. "Eli, you big _nerd._ "

"Shut up! It's really stressful, okay?!" She shot back defensively, still deeply embarrassed. "You try proposing to someone!"

She rolled her eyes. "You wish. I'm still single. Which is just as well!" She added quickly, crossing her arms and puffing her chest out. "I mean, just imagine how many hearts I'd break if word got out that I was taken? I'm taking one for the team here. Greater good, you know? That way all my admirers can think they have a chance."

"Aw, have a little romance, Nicocchi! You can't seriously say there's nobody you have your eye on…" Nozomi said, trailing off with a bemused look. Uh oh. Nico remembered that face. The _I-know-something-even-you-might-not-know-about-yourself_ face. _That_ look.

She shook her head. "No. No way, I know what you're thinking, and I don't have a thing for Maki." Nozomi stared a little harder. Her grin got a little wider. Nico felt a cold sweat building. "S-seriously! I don't! She's really cute, sure, but she's just not my type!"

Now it was Eli's turn to give her a flat look. "Nico, she couldn't be more 'your type' if you had released a written instruction manual. I've only met her once and even I can tell that much."

Nico snorted, waving the statement off. "No way. You guys just want to have another couple to drag off onto double dates. I'm not falling for it."

Finally, Nozomi's grin went full force, and she was now aiming the wicked smile down at Nico. "Alright then," she said sweetly. "Fall for this: If you don't have a date to me and Elicchi's wedding, I'm going to have Umi be my best girl instead."

She gaped at her. Eli looked surprised too. "Wh – hey, you can't do that!" Nico stammered. "That kind of question is like, a no take-backs sort of thing! Geez, Nozomi!"

Eli nodded tentatively. "Err….I'd have to agree with Nico, Nozomi. I don't think you can retract that kind of request."

"Well, it's a good thing she never actually said yes, then." She replied conclusively, before turning to face Nico again. "I don't care if you have to hire someone to be your date, you need to show up as a pair. Or are you saying that the great Nicocchi is so unromantic she can't even get one measly date in two whole months?" As if to accentuate the statement, Nozomi pretended to gasp.

Was she….doubting her?

That did it. Nico narrowed her eyes. "You're on, Toujou! I'll have my future date so whipped by your wedding that people will be wondering why _we_ aren't the ones getting married instead!"

"It's a bet, then." Her purple haired friend said, sounding beyond satisfied. "Shake on it?"

She nodded and stepped forward to do just that, hand extended, but instead earned herself a painful reminder of the broken mug. Nozomi winced.

Eli did too. "….I totally forgot about that." She admitted quietly.

"Same here," Nico forced out, pulling her foot away from the mess. Great, her sock was wet too. If anything, that upset her even more than the porcelain clinging to it. "I need to pick this up first, but you're still on."

* * *

After cleaning her mess she stuck around a little while longer, but nothing nearly as interesting as the bet or the wedding announcement happened. She wound up asking more about the wedding, obviously, and went over the facts a few times in her head. They were going to get married in about two months, just after the new year, and the wedding was going to be indoors. They hadn't picked a venue yet. They didn't plan on having many guests. Eli's grandmother would be coming in from Russia. Nozomi's parents had even agreed to take some time off for the wedding. Nico could bring her siblings.

That was the most of what she could remember being important. Nico wouldn't lie, she was beyond pumped. Single or not, she liked to consider herself a romantic, and she'd never actually been to a wedding before, so it was only natural that she'd be excited.

Having said her goodbyes already, she was just on her way out the door when she caught the tail end of the couple's conversation. "So, you're really sure she has to bring a date?" Eli asked, sounding perplexed.

"Come on, Elicchi! Sometimes fate needs a little push! Besides, she's 21 and she's never even been on a date before." She snickered. "It's a new experience, it'll be good for her."

"I heard that!" Nico shouted back to them, irritated.

"You were supposed to!" Nozomi shouted back, highly amused. Nico grumbled and left through the front door, closing it behind herself after giving them another, slightly louder and more annoyed, goodbye.

She'd gotten a ride here, but was planning on walking into town to grab a few things from the supermarket before returning to her house from there, mulling her plans over as she did. Okay, well, she had two months. To find a date, she'd likely need to check all of the normal hotspots in town…unless, like Nozomi had continuously suggested, she decided to ask Maki.

But, that wouldn't work at all. Granted, Nozomi was second to none in predictions, but nobody could be right _all_ the time. Especially not when Maki was…..well, Maki. On a good day they got along like a house on fire, and while they'd yet to have a truly 'bad' day, save the day after they first met, Nico was not eager to see what it would be like if Maki was really, truly mad at her.

So, considering all of that, finding a date could wait. She had time to think it over. In the meantime, she might as well give Maki some more space. What the hell, right? Maybe it would help her come up with a solid reason for not asking her out. Yeah, that'd work.

Humming, she picked up the pace .

* * *

For maybe the sixth or seventh time that night, Maki set down her textbook, sighing deeply. It was impossible to get any studying done like this. It wasn't that she was too bored to go on or anything, although that was certainly a factor in it, it was just – there was a scratching at the door – that _damn noise_ – more scratching – made it _really hard_ – a long whine, followed by more scratching – to fucking _focus_.

Exasperated seemingly beyond words, Maki finally gave up, put her book away, and walked over to the sliding screen door. And stared. Hard.

On the other side of it, Nico was giving her the most pathetic look the werewolf could muster.

Maki growled but slid the door open. "This is the fourth time in four nights! What the hell do you _want_?!" And it was true. For four nights in a row now, Nico had been showing up like this, bothering her for at minimum a solid three hours, and then going back home just as abruptly and acting totally oblivious when Maki tried to bring it up the next day.

Which meant one of two things: One, Nico was actually just fucking with her, or two – this was some stupid werewolf selective amnesia shit, and the 'wolf' brain (Did being a werewolf count as two separate entities? Should she ask later? If not, then what caused her to regress every time she transformed? Was it possible to stop it?) wanted something from her.

It wasn't food, because she'd tried and while Nico was more than happy to eat it, that didn't seem to be what she came for. Sometimes she'd just lie on the floor and let Maki keep studying; other times she'd pace and whine for no reason until Maki was making some form of physical contact with her.

The only problem was, if it wasn't food, then…what the hell _was_ it?

Maki groaned and flopped back onto her couch. Nico decided to follow suit, leaping onto the couch alongside her and plopping her dumb wolf ass right onto the other girl's stomach.

She sighed and tried to fondly remember when she still had control of her life (about two weeks ago) and wouldn't have just _accepted_ the fact that there was a fucking werewolf sitting on top of her like the bigger, dumber version of the _mother goose_.

That took her a moment to ponder, but, since it wasn't that time anymore, she shook her head and pushed Nico off her. "I'm at least going to do something I enjoy if I can't study with you around."

Neither of her parents were home, it was two in the morning….she knew exactly what this called for. The piano beckoned. Maki shrugged off the last of her annoyance and went to it. Nico followed expectantly, occasionally urging her along.

At first, she was just going to play one song. Something slow, relaxing. But when, at the end of it, she spotted her companion staring at her expectantly, she less-than-reluctantly decided she might as well show off a little. Nico most likely wouldn't remember, it was late and her judgment was poor, and the werewolf seemed to be at the very least enjoying herself at the moment, so it wasn't like playing some more was a bad idea.

 _That_ came when she kept going and, as she progressed to longer songs, got more and more tired. Maki was pretty sure that last rendition of _Claire de Lune_ was entirely muscle memory on her part. God, what time was it? Three? Four? Good thing she didn't have any classes tomorrow. She could probably also get away with not going to work – her parents owned the hospital, it wasn't like she wouldn't have the chance to explain herself.

The redhead yawned and pushed herself back from the bench, quietly setting everything back as it was before shuffling upstairs. She was tired.

Tired to the point where, rather than let Nico out when she started pacing around the back door again, she didn't pay attention when she was followed up the stairs. Tired to the point where she didn't think anything was strange about it, and rather she thought, ' _Oh, that's nice. I bet she's tired, too.'_

….Tired to the point where she mistook the admittedly soft werewolf for a blanket and allowed herself to doze off with her on the bed.

Maki just yawned and rolled over just once more before falling asleep, blissfully unaware of the problem that had just been created.

She woke up slowly, first becoming aware of the nice warm cocoon she'd managed to make in her bed. It was hard to remember what time she went to bed last night, but at this rate she was pretty reluctant to wake up. Someone else seemed to have other ideas, though. They pushed Maki a little, and the redhead mumbled something incoherent and tried to reclaim her sleep.

"Come on, seriously? Get up!" Another shove. Maki curled a little bit deeper into her blankets, trying to block out the voice.

"Shhhhut up," She mumbled yet again, still determined to keep her eyes closed. "How'd you even….."

Her eyes snapped open. Immediately coming into focus was Nico looking pretty agitated. Which made sense, considering the situation. Maki, finally resigned to being awake and dealing with, surprise, even more stupid shit, propped herself up in the bed with her elbows. "….Hm." She said finally.

" 'Hm'?!" Nico echoed loudly, clearly irritated. "I wake up in bed with you and all you have to say is 'hm'?!"

Maki nodded slowly. "….Yes," She said carefully.

Nico looked like she wanted to punch something. The redhead shifted a little on the bed, hoping that something wasn't her. "Can you at least tell me _why_ I woke up in your room?" She asked, clearly forcing herself to keep her voice down.

"You tell me." Maki replied with a shrug.

"Why would I be asking you if I knew the answer?!"

She shrugged again. "Well, you're the one who keeps showing up and bothering me. Last night was the fourth time in a row. I'm not sure what exactly you want, so you'd have to tell me why you're in my house." She explained simply.

Nico blinked. "I've….oh. Four nights in a row?" She seemed hesitant to believe it. Maki nodded curtly. "Huh. Umm, let me try and remember….why…..I'd….do that…."

Maki drummed her fingers on the bedspread impatiently. "Is it really that hard? That time I had to take you to the vet you seemed to remember everything just fine about five minutes after." She mused. Was there a medical explanation? Or at least something that made sense?

The black haired girl shrugged helplessly. "Er, I think it has something to do with whether or not I'm aware I'm doing it. That time, it was on purpose, so, it would have been weird to me if there was a big fat blank spot in my memory, right?"

"You mean half the time you _aren't_ aware of it? You can literally turn into a wolf and _not notice_." She repeated the information she'd gotten incredulously.

The other girl laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, somehow. Did you know I actually didn't even know I was a werewolf until my mom told me? It was crazy. We were freaking out."

"Wow," Maki said appreciatively, trying to picture how that must have panned out. They were quiet for a moment, each taking some time to contemplate that before Nico shook her head almost aggressively.

" _Anyways_!" She said loudly, "I had no idea I was visiting. Sorry about that, guess I'll just –" Nico stopped talking abruptly, as Maki grabbed her wrist and kept her from leaving the bed. "What –"

"My mom might be downstairs." She said bluntly. "And she'd be pissed if she saw me come downstairs with bedhead and a stranger."

Nico seemed to need a minute to process that. "Oh." She said finally.

"Yeah," Maki replied.

They were quiet again.

"It's too early for this." Nico sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Shit, so, what do we do?"

She shrugged. "Wait, I guess? I could go downstairs and check, but….I'm actually a little curious about something else, first."

"Huh? About what?"

Maki 'hmmmmed', trying to think of the best way to put it. It was something she'd been mulling over last night, she was sure of it….. "Well…..if you can't remember that you keep coming over, then, do you think you might know _why_ you keep coming over?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Uh, no? Did you listen at all when I said I had no idea I was doing it?"

"No, no, I mean, is there anything in particular you wanted from me lately. Maybe it's a subconscious sort of thing?" Could things she learned in high school level psych class actually apply here? Probably not, but hell, it was worth a shot. "Maybe you forgot to tell me something, or…." She trailed off with a shrug. "I'm just trying to think of why you might be coming."

"Oh." She said quietly. " _Oh_. No, there's nothing I can think of! I have no idea what I was hoping to achieve, honest. I'll just try and think of some way to make sure I don't come over tonight. Maybe I can figure it out with a little bit of thought." Was it just her, or did Nico look a little embarrassed? Her face was kind of red….

Before Maki had too long to mull it over, a phone rang. Music started playing, but Nico picked it up on the first ring, so she didn't actually get to hear much more than one note. "Hello?" There was a pause. "Nozomi?"

Maki would have tuned out the conversation, but between the fact that she was too tired to care and the fact that she was curious, she opted not to. She listened in idly.

"No, of course I didn't! It's only been four days, do you really think I– hey, no, I totally could! I just, have been sorta busy, is all." A long pause. "That sounds like a terrible idea." A shorter pause. "Yes, of course I think going to a bar is a bad idea. Eli is probably the only one out of the three of us that can hold anything stronger than a root beer." Nico snorted. "Yeah, yeah, I know I haven't seen either of you try it, but I mean, she's Russian, right? There's no way she can't hold a drink, it's like. The law, I don't know."

Maki watched in amusement as Nico flinched. "…You could have told me you were on speaker….yes, I get it, I'm sorry for assuming… _fine_ , I'll go to the stupid bar with you later….where am I? Uh…." Nico glanced nervously over at Maki. The redhead shrugged and smirked at her.

Nico coughed nervously. "I'm at a friend's house."

"Tell her you might need a ride." Maki interrupted. Nico shot her a disbelieving look, so she elaborated. "If it turns out my mom is downstairs, I can distract her while you slip out the front. I can't distract her if I'm the one driving you."

It looked like the werewolf would rather do anything _but_ that, but she swallowed nervously, nodded, and picked up the phone again, cringing as she spoke. "Ummm…..hey, I might have to ask you two to do something…"

Maki smirked again.

Her mom wasn't home; she just wanted to see Nico squirm. That's what she got for interrupting her studies.

* * *

The distraction miraculously went as planned – Maki's mom hadn't seen Nico on her way out, and even if Maki looked strangely pleased by the way things were turning out, it was still better than being caught. Nico just wished that operation 'sneak Nico out' hadn't concluded in this particular way.

Namely, she wished she wasn't trapped in the backseat of a car while her two (potentially _former_ if they kept this up) best friends made excessive jokes about her situation. "So, you and Maki slept together? Don't you know you're supposed to take her to dinner first?"

"Shuuuut uuuuup….!" She whined, covering her ears. "It wasn't my fault! You guys know that!"

"But it _does_ show that you want to see her, at least." Nozomi pointed out. Nico pretended she didn't hear. Nozomi laughed. "Wow, ignoring me. Was I right, then?"

Nico crossed her arms. "Okay, just because wolf me likes her doesn't mean we're like, soul mates." She argued.

Eli's eyebrow arched upwards, but she had to turn around again quickly because the light had changed. "You aren't two people, you know. Is it that hard to say you might have a crush on this girl?"

She huffed. "Yes."

"You're so stubborn." Nozomi chided.

"So I've heard." She replied, arms crossed. "Look, are we going to spend all day arguing about it or are we going to go out and have fun later?"

"Fine, fine." She waved it off. "But I'm still going to tease you about this."

Nico didn't expect anything less. Since there were still a few hours before they were planning on going out to that bar, Nozomi and Eli dropped her off at her house. "Later, losers!"

"Try not to have another one-night stand while we're apart!"

They drove off before Nico could run back into the car and hit them, so instead she took a deep breath and opened the door to her house. Huddled up on the couch, her unsuspecting siblings were watching a movie. She crouched and walked up behind them quietly, a grin spreading on her face.

When she was _just_ behind them, she quickly stood up, leaning over the couch to give the illusion of towering over them. "Which one of you three is trying to get rid of me?!" She roared, doing her best to use an exaggerated tone and voice.

The trio squealed and burst into laughter, trying to scatter, but she scooped Cocoa up before she could get away. "Was it you?"

"No! No!" She giggled, squirming in her older sister's grip. "It was someone else!"

Nico put her down and made a grab for Cotarou. "How about _you_?"

He shook his head, still openly laughing. "Not me."

She rushed towards the last of the three, grabbing Cocoro and setting her back on the couch before pointing an exaggerated and accusatory finger at her. "Then you're the culprit!"

"No, it wasn't me either!" Cocoro said, crossing her arms and beaming up at her elder sister.

"Then what gives?" Nico complained loudly, flopping onto the couch alongside her now highly amused siblings. "Which of you three is lying?"

"None of us!" Cocoa said chirpily. "We didn't open the door!"

"Do you want to know who _did_ open the door?" Cocoro asked, bouncing excitedly on the couch.

Nico shrugged. "If you'll tell me the truth."

The siblings all exchanged glances. It was, surprisingly, Cotarou that opened his mouth. "Mama did it," He said firmly.

All traces of a grin left Nico's face. "Wait….you're saying….she's the one who opened our door for me?"

Cocoa nodded vigorously. "She gets home late and if she sees you pacing she looks at us and goes, 'Shhhhh! Don't tell your sister!' and then she lets you go out."

"…is there a reason, or….?" Usually she didn't like it when Nico went off like that. Puzzled, she decided to text her and find out. Hopefully her mom wouldn't get in trouble for texting at work.

 _Message to: Mama_

' _Have u been letting me out these past few nights? cocoa said u did and i was wondering why? i keep bothering my friend'_

She didn't get a response for a few minutes, so she tried to distract herself with the cartoon her siblings were watching, which they had gone back to doing when they realized that Nico was done being playful for the moment. When she did get a response, though….

 _Message from: Mama_

' _You caught me! :p One of your friends said you had something important to do these past few nights, and it would seem like she was right! Did you have fun last night? ;p'_

' _MAMA OH MY GOD NOZOMI PUT YOU UP TO THIS DIDN'T SHE'_

' _haha g2g back to work now, love u'_

Nico gaped down at her phone, before deciding to text the _real_ culprit.

 _Message to: Nozotitty_

' _youre terrible. i cant believe you influenced my own MOTHER'_

' _destiny works in mysterious ways. sometimes that means thru moms'_

"Uuugh." Nico rolled her eyes, shutting the phone off. That sneaky little shit. Well, at least now she knew how to stop going over and bothering Maki.

That counted for something, right?

* * *

 **AN: Sorry if this chapter seems much shorter than the others, it's only a little under 4,00 words. I've kind of been strapped for time lately, but I had just enough to start getting into the shenanigans that I started this story for: getting Nico and Maki to hook up, and everyone pretending it's not totally insane that there's a werewolf in their living room. I've given them a nice two month cushion for that, haha. Anyways, Eli and Nozomi are fun and I live for Yazawa family bonding. And any family bonding, haha. Since I don't have much else to say I'll just wrap this up and answer any questions you guys had.**

 **Guest: Yeah, it's safe to assume the rest of the girls in muse are human, although initially I was going to have Eli be another, albeit former, werewolf (hence the Vucari comment way earlier on, which is actually the slavic term for what is essentially a werewolf, haha). I scrapped that, though, so she probably just has a family history. As for who in the family that refers to, well...there's only two of em, so guess, haha. It probably won't come into play much, if at all, but it's fun to know, I think? Yay for pointless trivia, I guess.**

 **That pretty much wraps it up! Sorry for the slightly late update, I should be back to my usual pace once finals are over for me, but as it stands I'm a little strapped for time. Thanks for reading and see you soon, hopefully!**


	8. Chapter 8

It was possible, Maki realized as she made her fourth trip to the pencil sharpener in the past five minutes, that she was bored.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If she had to make _one more fucking flashcard_ , she was going to cry. Maki grumbled under her breath as she proceeded to make an entire new set just for the nuances of the digestive system.

Normally this was a hassle, but now it just seemed unbearable. Everything was telling her she should be up and doing something. Naturally, she decided to blame this experience on Nico. Since that got her nowhere, though…

Defeated, she reached for her phone and quickly fired a few messages off to Rin.

' _Hey, are you busy today? I think I need to take a break from studying. It's impossible to do anything productive at this rate.'_

And then, as an afterthought,

' _if we're coming to my place you can bring Hanayo too if she feels like it.'_

Rin responded very quickly.

 _New msg from: Rin_

' _Sorry maki! ! ! ! im busy today 3: maybe another time, nya?'_

' _That's fine. Sorry for bothering you. Let's talk later, okay?'_

' _k! :3'_

Maki switched the phone off and groaned. Now what the hell should she do? She turned it back on and hovered a finger above Nico's name before switching it off again. She'd just seen her this morning, there was no reason to be texting her. Besides, she was busy today anyways. Maki had even _heard her making the arrangements._

Seriously, didn't she have anything better to do than think about her?

…no, she didn't. Unless of course the digestive system was a more appetizing (yes, she thought that pun on purpose) prospect than thinking some more on that idiot, the answer was no. She thought back to the phone conversation that morning; Nico was apparently going to a bar tonight.

She scowled. Considering the fact that a corn dog had done her in before, she seriously doubted Nico's ability to hold liquor without upsetting her stomach. It was a good thing Nozomi and Eli would be there, because she didn't put it past the black-haired girl to let something stupid happen again.

Though, she did have to wonder why they'd go meet up at a bar of all places…Maybe there was some sort of appeal she wasn't aware of? She still wasn't old enough to drink, after all, not until she turned 20.

Maki let out a breath, flopping onto her back to play a game on her phone, since there was nothing else to be done. Maybe she could go put in some work at the hospital….? Unappealing as it would sound normally, it was better than this unproductive slump she was in now.

She took a moment to consider it.

Then she returned to playing her game on the phone.

Screw her productivity, she earned this break.

* * *

In a different place, several hours later, Nico was beginning to regret her decisions.

Her first hint was when she walked into the bar and immediately got a whiff of the most disgusting fusion of cologne and dollar-store perfume ever created, and then was promptly pulled into the center of it all by her friends.

"Come on, Nico," Nozomi teased. "You won't find a date if you keep looking like you're about to vomit on anyone who walks past you." Her horrorstruck expression was evidently answer enough, because Nozomi laughed again and went off to have a drink with Eli. "I'll leave you to work your 'magic'." She said.

Nico couldn't help but feel like it was all just a big and convoluted way of saying, 'I'll leave you to struggle while I make out with my hot blonde fiancée', but hey, who was getting into specifics? Not Nico. Oh _nooooo_ , never her.

She pinched her nose shut and tried to concentrate. This was only her second or third time in a bar, and suddenly she remembered why she'd never made a habit of coming to the places. But she _had_ to prove Nozomi wrong. Even if she didn't get a number, surely she could get at least one, maybe kind of sloppy, kiss from one of these people, right? She could at least show her friend she knew how to get someone interested.

Besides, half of the people still sitting at the bar looked like they were wasted enough to start making out with the table, let alone a cute, single werewolf.

She grinned weakly as she took her hand off her nose. She could suffer through this if it meant she got to go be the best man at a wedding. If anything, she deserved at least a little hassle for that honor, considering how poor of a job of staying in touch she'd done.

The hybrid of pop and rave music blared as she tried to pick out someone susceptible from the crowd. Next to her, someone who had obviously been frequenting the bars all night leaned over. "Hhhhey….kid…..shh….shhouldn't you be, with nnnn adult?" He muttered, leaning closer and closer as he tried to distinguish her age. "Yer like…twe-n-elve. Twnelve. ."

Nico scooted as far away as was possible without falling over on her barstool. For his part, he barely noticed. "Shhhes further 'way, now…..ssss further way….."

Maybe she should get up and talk to people that were, at the very least, sober enough to stand. Nico opted not to order anything for now and instead wandered into the throng of people up and moving, hoping there would be some other, less terrible place to sit and have a conversation. Like a couch. Or in a car, driving out of this scentvomit.

Her nose wrinkled up as she wandered through the crowds. Nico quietly cursed Nozomi for roping her into this."Damn Nozomi and her…..stupid fucking cards…..'n she has a _wife_ , she's basically been married for five _years_ so she doesn't know how hard it is….smells like shit in here…."

Things continued in a similar fashion until, as she was fated to, something in the scenery changed. Or, rather, something in the _scent_ ary changed. Nico blinked and, without questioning it, made a beeline for the source.

She found herself in front of a couple (not ideal, she had kind of been hoping to find just one person that happened to have a good taste in perfume and also in girls, preferably one that included Nico inside said taste) and, while slightly disappointed, decided it would be a good idea to stop and take a break around there anyways. They'd found a decent corner, and managed to claim a loveseat for themselves.

The one across was unoccupied though, so Nico settled down into it and tried not to make it obvious that she was looking at them.

On the right, there was a taller girl reading something on her phone. Her features were sharp, and she had long, purple hair. Nico thought she was faintly familiar – maybe she'd been a classmate or something? Had pictures in a magazine for an ad? In any case, the feeling was there – and then moved onto the second one.

On the left, there was a shorter looking girl with red hair – the orange kind of red hair though, not the kind like Maki's, not the kind she may or may not have found more appealing – who, was, rather than reading something, returning Nico's look rather intensely.

Nico let out a shudder at around exactly the same time as the girl opened her mouth. "Hello. Did you want to ask something or are you going to stare all night?"

No sooner than she had said that than did the other girl's head snap up, evidently angered, but she seemed to settle down when she got a good look at Nico. "Oh. Hello."

"Hi." She muttered back lamely, doing her best not to sink into the cushions on her couch. Fuck, she honestly didn't think they'd notice.

The redhead, at least, looked amused. "You don't go to bars very often, do you?"

Nico shook her head no. "It's loud and smelly and I haven't even gotten the chance to drink anything yet. This blows."

"Then maybe we should get you something to drink." She proposed smoothly. "I'm Anju. This is Erena."

"And I'm going to borrow my friend here for a moment, so hold that thought, please." Out of seemingly nowhere, Eli arrived, all but dragging Nico back to the bar. She ordered something and waited for Nico to say something.

Eventually, she did. "What was that all about?"

Eli shrugged. "Nozomi said to tell you that three-ways don't count unless you can get both of their phone numbers."

"Are there seriously terms and conditions to this stupid date thing?" Nico whined, highly irritated. "Come _on_ , Eli! Besides, they were just offering to get me a drink –"

"Just offering doesn't mean they weren't interested in later doing something-" Eli said quickly, just as Nico finally understood what had actually happened.

"Oh my god, are you seriously doing the mom friend thing? Here? In a bar that _you_ suggested we come to." Nico almost sounded offended, which was good, because that's what she was going for and that's how she felt. Almost offended.

Eli ran a hand through her hair. "Well I just feel like they were a little _too_ smooth and-"

"You are _so_ childish." She muttered in response, although she did have to laugh a little. "Okay, okay, if it pleases your worrying housewife ass, I'll go try and find a less intimidating date. "

"I am _not_ a-"

"You are." Nico interrupted her, then proceeded to slam the drink that finally showed up. Or, she tried to, anyways. She ended up spitting most of it straight back into the cup. "Th-the hell….?"

The blonde deadpanned. "That one was mine."

"What the fuck did you put in this? It smells like a cleaning agent! Is it _legal_ for the alcohol content to be this high?" Nico sputtered.

Eli just shrugged, before shamelessly taking a long sip of it and smirking at the shorter girl. "I believe you said something earlier about Russians and alcohol?"

Nico grumbled and reached for her own drink, which, although much weaker, was still hard to actually get down. ' _Note to self_ ,' She thought idly, ' _No matter how easy other people make it look, drinking is gross. If I get another it'll need to be something fruity_ _._ _'_

The encounter more or less concluded from there, Eli took her drink and moved back over towards wherever the hell Nozomi was at this point. Nico wasn't sure how Eli was going to find her in the crowd, but she was sure she would. It was like they had some sort of gay homing radar. Nico wasn't sure if she should laugh or be jealous, but that's the term she'd use for it.

With Eli down and the two oddly friendly strangers now far behind her and probably distracted having their own fun, Nico tried to come up with a new game plan. Thankfully, she didn't need to. Someone approached her this time.

A guy, maybe about a few years older than her at best, asked if the seat next to her was taken, because all of the other ones were full. She shook her head no and racked her brain for pick-up lines.

Sure, this wasn't ideal, but then again, what was? Red hair flashed into her mind, and it was all she could do to avoid scowling openly. She wasn't sure how, but somehow, she'd blame Nozomi for that thought.

* * *

Nico had eventually found her words and started a small and not entirely unpleasant conversation with the stranger. Things went well until he finally caught on that she was flirting (It took longer than she thought possible) and started to reciprocate the process.

She wasn't sure how smooth the guy was when he _wasn't_ drinking, but he really could have used some tips. "S-so, think we could get a coffee sometime tomorrow?"

"Sure!" She agreed, feeling triumphant. That was a date. She just got a fucking date. ' _In your face, Nozomi_.' She thought smugly.

She felt less smug when the guy kept talking. He rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Ah, man, I'm a little nervous. I've never done anything like this before." Nico raised an eyebrow, and he continued. "U-uh….what time do I pick you up from school? Do your parents know you're trying compensated dating?"

" _What._ " She said, disbelieving. He thought she was-

"Well, I-I mean, I'd feel bad if you missed school…..a-and I'm not sure it's legal? To do this, I mean."

"I'm _twenty-one_ years old," She growled. "And you shouldn't be trying to date _schoolgirls_ in the first fucking place!" Nico slammed the rest of her drink (she wasn't wasting that shit, it cost like fifteen dollars) and skulked off towards Nozomi and Eli, on the other side of the bar.

Should've dumped the drink out on him.

Her irritation must have been more obvious than usual, because rather than jokingly ask if she struck out with someone, Nozomi tipped her head to the side. "What happened?" Eli looked on with similar concern, one arm draped around her fiancée, but her full attention otherwise on Nico.

She shook her head and sat down in a huff. "No, but I did manage to attract some dude that thought I was a high schooler."

Nico only realized she might have revealed too much when Eli stood up with a glower on her face, which was, by this point, slightly flushed from the alcohol.

This wasn't going to end well, was it?

Nozomi and Nico both suppressed a wince when she launched a glass at the guy, though.

* * *

Abruptly, mid-game, Maki's phone started ringing. She tried frantically to close the call before she missed too many of the little notes and struck out. Unfortunately, she was too late. All she ended up doing was rejecting a call _and_ dropping out of the song.

She cursed, closed the game, and went to see who had been calling her.

Nico? Why the hell would Nico be calling –

Her phone lit up again, this time with the ringtone she'd chosen for Nico playing: the sound of dogs barking. It'd been funnier at the time when it was one in the morning and Nico wouldn't shut the hell up every time she played it. Now it was just irony.

She picked up. "Hello? Nico?"

" _H-hey, Maki….sooooo, umm, I know that it's, probably asking a lot of you, considering what time it is and all, but, do you think you could, maybe, sort of…..please come and pick me and my friends up from the bar?_ " Her voice came over the line, sounding hopeful.

Inconvenient? It was twelve. Of course it was inconvenient. Or, it would be, if Maki had actually been doing anything that day. Nico didn't need to know that she hadn't, though. Maki twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "Do I want to know why this call is so last minute?"

Nico 'hmm'ed, in the auditory version of a shrug. " _To make a long story a lot shorter, my dumbass friend started a bar fight and got us thrown out."_

The was a pause and then, faintly, " _I said I was sorry!"_

Suddenly Maki felt like she had a headache coming on. "Then why are _you_ outside?"

"…. _Well, I mean, she started it, and it looked like he was going to get a hit in on her, so….."_

Someone wrestled the phone away from Nico. " _Nicocchi wanted to have some fun too!"_ More bickering as the two fought for the phone again.

Maki sighed while it went on. "So what I'm hearing is, none of you are sober enough to drive."

" _That's about right."_ Nozomi said bluntly. " _We were planning on getting a cab but we ended up spending most of the fare on replacing the glasses."_

"Glasses." She repeated incredulously. "Don't tell me you actually damaged the bar property-"

" _Yeah, we're kind of banned for like. Indefinitely."_ Nico said, sounding more or less as exasperated as Maki felt. " _Probably forever._ "

Again, she sighed. "You're all dumb. Give me the address."

She heard something suspiciously like a high-five on the other line while she was scribbling down the address on an already-used index card from the cardiovascular set.

* * *

About ten minutes later, the trio was piling into Maki's car, with Nico being the one that claimed shotgun because 'she was the one who called'. Naturally, Maki told her she could sit in the back for that, because she was the one who was driving, which meant that nobody got shotgun unless she felt like it.

Watching the werewolf pout in the back seat between her two friends was funnier than Maki dared to admit.

Speaking of said two friends, it was easy enough to tell who started the fight and who didn't get involved. The blonde one had a black eye already (which probably meant it would be sticking around for a while, if it bruised that fast) and a small scratch on her cheek, and the other was virtually unharmed. Nozomi barely looked to have a hair out of place.

Nico apparently managed to get off with only minor bruising.

"You're all dumb." Maki repeated again, as she finally started driving off.

"He started it." Eli muttered, apparently determined to shift the blame off herself.

Nico snorted. "You walked up to him and broke a glass on his head. How the hell did he start it?"

Eli chose not to comment.

"Fair point," The black haired girl conceded, as if Eli had said something.

Maki tried not to slam her head into the steering wheel and focused on driving. "So, any of you want to explain how it started?"

"Nico was trying to pick up a date, basically. It backfired." Nozomi explained simply, waving it off with one hand like getting themselves kicked out of an entire bar for potentially forever was 'no big thing'. "There was a drunk guy, that Nico didn't like, and then there was a less-drunk guy that Elicchi didn't like, and then things started getting a little messy."

"No shit," Maki replied hotly, eyes still fixed on the road. For some reason she was more irritated than she would be. "Why would you try to pick up dates at a bar? That's like _asking_ for fuck-ups to come try their chances with you." She couldn't help but note that both of the mentioned offenders were guys. That made her more upset, for some reason.

"Oh?" Nico retorted sarcastically. "And where would you suggest getting a date, since your love life is oh-so-obviously more fruitful than mine?"

The redhead made a disgruntled noise. "I don't – I don't know, not a _bar_. Why are you in such a hurry?"

"None of your business is why," The werewolf replied intelligently. "Anyways, why do you care what kind of person I go out with?"

"None of your business is why," She sniped back sarcastically. Eli started cracking up in the back of the car.

" _Burrrrn_ ," She whispered, or at least she must have intended to, even though everyone in the car heard it and not just Nozomi.

Nozomi started giggling too after that, and Maki resisted the urge to brain herself on the dashboard. "I think," Nozomi said in a low, suggestive voice, "Maki is _jealous_."

"If I weren't such a spectacularly kind person I would have kicked you out of my car by now." Maki said flatly, now _very_ focused on keeping her eyes on the road, and, most importantly, her face out of the trio's line of sight. Fuck. She wasn't _actually_ jealous, she was just –

Eli was still laughing to the point where it might as well have been wheezing. " _P-pomidor_ ," She laughed. "Her face is like a _pomidor_ , Nozomi, I'm-"

"About to make Maki very angry while we're in a moving vehicle." Nico said flatly, sounding flustered. "So seriously, c-cut it out! Or else the great Nico ni-"

"Will need a better catch phrase." The redhead cut back in smoothly. "Eli, Nozomi, we're almost at your house."

Nozomi smiled politely and tried to get the blonde to stop giggling, elbowing her softly in the stomach. "Yes, thank you so much for coming to pick us up."

She nodded curtly, and let them out of the car when they pulled up. They both seemed to be hassling Nico about something, and Nico was equally determined to repay said hassling by vehemently refusing whatever it was.

Even though Maki had said nobody would be sitting in the front seat, Nico crawled up there as soon as the two were inside, ignoring the fact that the car was moving.

"Do you have any respect at all for traffic safety laws?" She asked, casting an irate glance at her.

Nico shrugged. "Well, the ones that are really important, sure. Do you have any respect for the one that says to keep your eyes on the road and not on your really cute companions?"

She snorted. "Get over yourself."

"Maybe later." She replied breezily. "So, don't you want to ask how my fun night at the bar went?"

"Not particularly." Maki said, trying to mask her eyeroll. "I don't care to know about the number of alcoholics you tried to attract the interest of."

Nico whistled. "You're more stand-offish than usual today! I think you might've broken a record!"

"I think _you_ might break something if you keep taunting me," She replied 'well-meaningly', noting that Nico didn't bother to hide it when she rolled her eyes. "But _fine_ , if you insist on telling me all about your dumb dating life, I'll listen."

She cocked her head to the side. "Actually, you know what? Let's hear about _yours_."

"What?"

Nico shrugged again. "Well I mean, if mine is such a hassle, then yours is obviously much better, right?"

Shit. Maki flushed and tried to think of a way out of it. "Umm…." Well… "I have a girlfriend," She blurted out.

Nico blinked like Maki had just told her Santa wasn't real. "Wait, seriously?"

She coughed. "Well, yeah. She's a family friend…"What the fuck was she going on about? "But she's studying biomedicine at a college in France right now. It'll be a few months before I see her again."

"N-no way…that's awesome, Maki…." Nico laughed nervously, evidently totally not prepared for that outcome. Maki nervously laughed along.

"Heheh, yeah, it's uh. Sure something."

This was so stupid. This was so, very stupid. Maki wondered if she could play it off as a very, very elaborate joke.

Nico was scrambling for conversation. "So…. what's her name?"

Maki said nothing for around two minutes straight, giving both of them time to saturate in the awkward silence, until they stopped at a red light. She turned to face Nico and, with the best straight face she could manage, said: "I'm just fucking with you, I've been single my whole life."

It actually took a minute to register with her, but when it did, Nico looked offended. "You - you could have just started with that!"

"It's what you get for asking personal questions." She said, trying not to outwardly show any of her relief.

The older of the two grumbled. "Fine. Sure, whatever."

They were quiet for a minute. Maki, coming to the conclusion that their argument was done, kept driving. When she dropped Nico off, she only wondered briefly if she'd be seeing her again later before returning home.

As per the new usual, though, her day wasn't entirely finished – someone _else_ wanted to talk to her.

Nozomi was sitting in her car looking bored, right in front of her house. She got up and waved. Maki raised an eyebrow. "Are you even allowed to be driving right now?"

"Yes, I only had one drink, and it was weak." She said. Maki believed it. Between the two of Nico's friends, she seemed like the one who'd do that just in case the others overdid it. "Anyways, I was going to give you something."

"Hm?"

Nozomi stepped out of the car, reaching into her bag to pull some letters out. She handed them over as she explained. "I heard you were friends with Rin and was hoping you could deliver the invitations to her and her friend. And then Eli and I thought, since you've been making friends with the rest of the people we know – like Nico, and Honoka and the others – we should see if you'd like to come too."

"Oh." Maki said, taking the letters carefully. "Um…sure, I'll…I'll see if I can make it to this." This was new. She wasn't even sure what the invitation was for.

She winked. "Great, I hope you can make it. I should be going home now, then. Sorry again for the interruption tonight."

"It's no problem," Maki replied, as if dazed. She was still trying to remember the last time she'd been invited to something that wasn't work or school related. As a general rule, she was kind of a 'buzzkill'.

Nozomi grinned. "Oh, and, before I go, you do know that if you really wanted Nico to stop dropping by, you'd have fixed your fence by now, right?"

She flushed and stuffed the invitations into her pocket, pointedly avoiding the older girl's gaze. Eventually she snickered one last time and drove off.

Maki kicked the loose fenceboard back into place before heading inside. Sometimes the simpler solutions were the best, anyways.

* * *

 **AN: I only have four finals left after two weeks of studying hell and three other finals. I am about to be saved. Also, firetucks is a mind reader? ? ? and they picked up on the thing I was hoping to do with A-RISE :o haha.** **I don't feel like having a 'eureka' moment with the characters any time soon, so I'll just lay out why they smell nice: They want to. They're using wolfsbane to attract her to them. Anyways, the only other thing that gets Nico so pumped is the smell of tsundere haha**

 **Also: Yes there's demon sisters! I don't know if the non-yazawa siblings will show up until like maybe the wedding, though, haha. I can sure try though.**

 **And as for zurui yo: I'm glad you think that my characterization of Nico is good - I'm always worried about someone coming off as OOC.**

 **Aaanyways, this'll be a shorter AN, but thank you guys all for wishing me luck on my finals! Good luck to you too, for any of you reading that's still taking them or has yet to get their grades back, heheh. See you guys soon - then I** **'ll be on break and I'll have more time to write, hopefully!**


	9. Chapter 9

It was late at night, Nico was running a hand through her hair and watching another shitty medical drama. She wasn't sure when this had become a habit for her, but here she was.

She could practically hear Maki mocking the entire episode. Nico turned on the couch and groaned. Her mild crush had evolved into a full-fledged one. She couldn't stop thinking about that car trip. First with Nozomi pointing out that Maki might actually be jealous, and then Maki, even if only coincidentally, and only for the purposes of annoying Nico, admitting she was not only single but also interested in girls – she should have been _thrilled_.

Instead her gut was flopping in a way she couldn't quite place.

After the incidents at the bar, she probably thought Nico was straight as a board…The werewolf bit her lip in frustration. No way in hell was she going to just admit something like that. Especially not when Maki was, well….. _Maki._ Not only would she be teased to all hell about it even if it worked out, but if it didn't, she could most likely kiss any assistance or interaction with the redhead goodbye.

She'd have to get Maki interested in her first.

While she mulled it over, an idea was coming to her.

Maki liked animals. Maki was a fan of Nico in her wolf form. She could just…figure out what she liked that way. The more she turned it over in her head, the more it seemed like it would work.

She'd supposedly been visiting every night, so nothing would really seem out of place to the redhead if Nico were to show up again tonight. Nico would just need to focus on staying as 'sober' as possible. Admittedly a little bit more tricky when she was literally still inebriated (a factor that was probably the only reason she was actually considering this _stupid_ idea, a small part of her screamed) but doable.

Nico laughed a little to herself. "I can do this. I can still figure out if she's interested."

This in mind, she moved for the door, opening it and pulling internally at that part in the farther reaches of her head, pulling until she felt a familiar pins and needles sensation. She shut the door quickly and dropped to a crouch on the porch. Next to nobody was out at this time of night, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

She wiggled her toes as the last of it passed.

Then she just had to focus on keeping everything as organized as possible.

' _I'm going to Maki's house. I'm going to see what she likes. I'm going to Maki's house. I'm going to see if she likes me.'_ Nico repeated the phrase internally, trying to keep focused. She stepped off the porch – everything seemed taller now and it was strange but also unnervingly familiar, like déjà vu in a building she'd never been in before – and padded feet hit the ground.

Going to Maki's house. Going to Maki's house. Going to-

Something bright was in the driveway – _Car, run –_ and Nico froze on the sidewalk, looking to the outside world like just a pair of red eyes in the brush. Someone stepped out of the car and moved for the house with keys – _mother_. Nico approached cheerfully.

"Hello, darling girl," She cooed, running a hand across her head. "Are you going to do something important again tonight?"

She wagged her tail. Wait, shit, don't get distracted. Nico stopped.

Then she started again. Fuck.

It was just too tempting. Nico leaned into the touch, tail still moving furiously based on some sort of instinct. Thankfully it was endearing and got a laugh from her mother. "Okay, then. Don't go and get yourself hurt, okay? Come back home safe."

Nico pulled back and managed a grave nod. This was serious, she had to take it seriously – her mom laughed again and Nico was on her feet again and trying to get another pat. Fuck, she _was_ dumb, wasn't she? "Someone's serious tonight. Okay, okay, I trust you. Go have fun."

She pulled away sheepishly – what a strange way to do things, for a wolf – and was only mostly down the street when she heard her mom unlocking the door with a sigh - and further she went.

Knowing what she was doing when she was out and about like this was a new experience. Nico tipped her head one way and the other, distracted despite her best efforts by all the noise, and tried to maintain her place on the sidewalk.

This was….kind of appealing, actually. She could run as fast as she wanted, she could see everything well, she could – hoLY SHIT WHERE DID THAT CAR COME FROM.

The sound of breaks screeching echoed loudly in her ears as she sprinted away from the scene.

' _Gotta get to Maki's house gotta get to Maki's house gotta get-'_ It was incredible how hard it was to keep a single objective in mind. But this was important, this was for Nozomi's wedding and also herself.

The sprinting thing had definitely taken a large chunk out of the time it took to get to the mansion, and Nico soon found herself staring up at the fence, and then the front door.

How on _earth_ did she get in the last four times? A fenceboard, out of place, clicked into her mind. Nico looked for it, but it didn't seem to be there anymore. What? Seriously?!

She paced around the fence anxiously, trying in vain to find some way to get into the yard, at least.

There's no way she was _smarter_ when she wasn't completely conscious, right? Nico kept pacing alongside the fence, whining helplessly.

She could get her attention another way, then. She moved on towards the front door, through a gate that was laughably easy to open – there was a _button_. Seriously. And she began pawing at the front door.

Through an open window, inside, she could hear a woman – not Maki, so she completely disregarded it – talking on the phone. The words 'nuisance' and 'stray dog' were clear, though for the life of her Nico couldn't understand why somebody would be on the phone and talking about that of all things at this hour of night.

She continued pawing relentlessly at the door. Eventually, Maki would open it, right?

Of course.

She continued to mistakenly believe that, up until the point when a car pulled up, someone got out, and _all_ _of a sudden_ she was falling asleep. What?

…..what?

Nico, on her descent, spotted an animal control van.

' _Fuck my life.'_ She cursed internally.

* * *

Maki rolled out of bed with the groggy realization that last night she'd gone to bed later than usual, because of the whole bar incident, and as such she slept later, too. Her mother might be home right now.

She walked downstairs and poured herself some cereal. If her mom was home, she'd wander in eventually. Maki shoveled the cereal into her mouth dully. She didn't feel like having a hearty breakfast, she felt like going back to sleep.

Her mom walked in and looked her over. "Were you staying up late again?"

"No." Came the automatic response.

" _Maki_ ….." She said warningly. "What time did you go to bed?"

"One." She replied, just as bluntly. "What time did you get home?"

"Two." Her mother admitted, sighing. "I had a hard time getting to sleep, too, though. Did you hear it last night?"

Maki tipped her head to one side. Hear what? It hadn't rained or something, had it? "Ah…no, actually. I slept fine. Did something happen while I was asleep?"

Her mother shrugged, taking her seat at the table and taking an idle sip of coffee. "Someone's dog got out, it was making a ruckus up by the front door. I'm amazed you slept through that."

"Sounds like a pain," Maki agreed, getting one more spoonful of cereal into her mouth before the realization struck.

Once it did, she did her best not to spit the cereal back into the bowl, and instead finished chewing and, with a hopefully not too nervous expression, asked 'casually'. "Did you see what kind of dog it was? I think our neighbor has a little one."

Her mom shook her head. "No, this one was huge. I was actually kind of surprised. Do dogs really get that big? I think there are some breeds, but none that look like that." She shook her head. "Anyways, I called animal control and it got taken care of. Some story though, isn't it?"

Maki drummed her fingers on the table. "Yep. Sure is." She cleared her throat. "Uh, I think I had a study group meeting at school today. I should probably get dressed."

"Have fun, sweetie."

She made her way up the stairs quickly. "You've got to be kidding," She muttered, pulling her clothes on as fast as she could. "This is so stupid. I can't believe this. This is what my life has come to." She grumbled to herself on her way down the stairs again, and even in her car.

Hopefully she made it to the shelter before something even more stupid happened.

* * *

The shelter, where she _hoped_ Nico had been taken, was actually pretty close to her house. Maki stepped out of the car and held the papers she'd taken with her tightly, even if it crumpled them a little. The vet bills, in case they didn't believe her.

She made her way to the desk slowly. "Hello. Would you like to adopt an animal today?"

"I'm actually here about one that animal control took last night? It – uh, that was my dog. Sh-she's pretty big, black fur? Y-you do have her here, right?" Maki scratched the back of her head, not caring if she was broadcasting her anxiety. In this case, it would probably only help her case, anyways.

The desk woman nodded slowly. "Yes, we did get a rather large black dog in last night. You're saying it belongs to you?"

Maki nodded quickly. "Yeah. She's a bit of an escape artist. Slipped her collar." Realizing that might not be enough information, she scrambled to pull out her phone, searching for the picture of Nico she'd taken way back when she met her. She pulled it up and showed it to the clerk lady, who nodded.

"That's her. Do you know that your dog isn't chipped?"

Again, she nodded. "Yes, I know. I probably should, sometime, but…." Think, think… "My, sister, she was against it. Didn't want her chipped."

The clerk nodded, obviously incredulous, but stood up. "Okay, then, just checking. Do you have anything to prove that the dog belongs to you?" Maki pushed the vet bills onto the desk.

"I would have brought her actual papers, but, " They didn't exist? "I was so worried I just grabbed the first thing I could see."

This earned her a comforting smile. "It's always terrible to think you've lost a pet. She's in the back, let's get you two reunited."

Maki felt a tangible relief wash over her body. Silently she thanked any deities that had decided to watch after her today. She followed the woman into the back room where the kennels were, and she spotted Nico in the back, like a big black hole of fur. At least she hadn't fallen asleep and changed back. She wasn't sure what she'd do then, but it probably involved panicking.

She sat up, completely alert, and the shelter lady laughed and unlocked the cage door.

Maki made a mental note not to give the werewolf any more treats, _ever_ , when she was immediately knocked onto the floor. Nico prodded her from every angle with her nose, snuffling and otherwise getting in her personal space. Maki pushed her off, and stood up slowly.

"Thank you. What do I need to do next?"

* * *

Apparently, a lot. She had to pay a reclaim fee – _the things she fucking did for this dumb werewolf_ – as well as fill out a bunch of papers saying yes, she totally owned this dog, and yes, of course she was up to date on all shots (probably).

Nico looked on, seeming much more calm than usual, at least after that initial excitement. She got into the car without a struggle, too.

"You're _really_ dumb, you know that?" She asked, annoyed, once she'd piled into the front seat next to Maki. Nico made a noise somewhere along the lines of huffing. Maki continued. "I should probably be mad that you're just going to forget this later, but I guess it kind of evens out. I've said some embarrassing things with you around like this."

The wolf looked interested suddenly. Maki raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to repeat them, you big ham." Nico huffed again.

The redhead rolled her eyes, and took a moment to pet her when they stopped at a red light. "I should just be glad you didn't get in worse trouble."

Nico made another chortling type noise and moved into the back seat. Whatever. Maki focused on driving, deciding to go to Nico's house rather than her own since her mom thought she was out with a 'study group' that didn't actually exist.

She failed to notice anything wrong until, when she pulled to a stop, Nico opened the door for herself.

Maki blinked a few times. "Wait, how long have you been-"

"About halfway through the trip," Nico admitted, fidgeting with her hands. "Sorry for-"

"I'm really sorry my mom called animal control." She cut her off. "I should have been awake."

"Wait, what? But I was the one who-"

The nurse shook her head, giving the shorter girl a dismissive wave. "It's not like you can do anything about it, right? So that kind of makes it okay, I guess."

Nico frowned suddenly. "Hey, you don't get to be all 'selfless friend' on me! Just admit that it was my fault! Let me take responsibility or _something_!"

"No." She said firmly.

"Yes," Nico said, just as firmly. "At least be upset!"

Maki flushed and twirled a strand of her hair. "I am upset," She insisted. "Did it sound like I wasn't going to give you a hard time about this later? I was just saying not to beat yourself up about what you're doing when you're – well, you know." She shrugged. "Hard to blame you for that much."

Nico looked at her incredulously. "Actually, it's pretty easy! _I'd_ blame me for that much. So what the hell is your deal? You just bailed me from dumb wolf prison and you're still acting like it's no problem!"

"Well, we're friends, right?" She asked, deciding to be upfront. "I mean, sometimes you annoy the hell out of me, but I think, by this point, we're at least pretty good friends. Aren't we?" It wasn't like she was expecting a 'no', but there was still a lot of relief when the black haired girl nodded vigorously.

"I guess you have a point." Nico admitted. "I just feel like I'm always the one getting in trouble. I'm older than you! I'm supposed to be all cool and keeping _you_ out of trouble! It's just not fair."

Maki shrugged, deciding her moment of sincerity was over. "Yeah, you are pretty terrible. I'm getting used to it though. If it makes you feel any better, your friend Eli seems kind of reckless too."

Nico gasped in mock offense. "At least _try_ to act like you like me!"

"Why? You're the one who said all of that, I'm not going to _dis_ agree."

"You totally missed the point! That's where you're supposed to reassure me that I'm doing a good enough job!" The shorter girl argued, looking angrily up at Maki.

She shrugged again. "Don't feel like it. Besides, I just bailed you from 'dumb wolf prison'. I'm allowed to have my fun."

"Oh, so _now_ you decide to stop being nice to me…." She grumbled.

"Pretty much." Maki said bluntly. "…are you going to be okay on your own, or should I come in and babysit you some more?"

"Hilarious, Maki." Nico monotoned. "Don't you have some pretentious medical thing to be doing?"

She shook her head. "No. I had another day off. I'm just trying to use them all before the end of the month. Otherwise I saved them up for nothing."

"Oh."

It was quiet for a second. Maki risked a glance over at the door. Nobody was opening it, but, "You should get a child proof lock or something," She said finally. "You could get yourself in serious trouble if you keep slipping out like that."

Nico seemed flustered. "Haha, yeah, I probably should. Thanks again!" She suddenly seemed interested in getting into her house faster. "See you around, Maki!"

"See you." She replied, with much less enthusiasm. The door shut. "Idiot," She muttered. Still, she was kind of glad they'd gotten the chance to talk again. They seemed to be arguing at least a little bit less, lately. Was Nico warming up to her?

She kind of hoped so.

* * *

Since she still had time to kill before she could return home – she probably should have given a different excuse to her mother, she mused – Maki ended up stopping by Rin's house, since she still had the invitation to deliver.

She played with her hair for a second after knocking on the door, holding the invitations in the other. Hanayo eventually opened it, looking around the corner almost shyly. Maki cleared her throat. "Ahem. I was asked to give you and Rin these –"

"Wedding invitations?" Hanayo completed curiously, before realizing her error and flushing a deep red. "Sorry! Uh, come in."

Normally the interruption would be annoying, but something about Hanayo made it hard to be mad at her. Maki laughed lightly and stepped in. Hanayo looked even more embarrassed. "Rin is at the grocery store right now. She should be back in a few minutes, so you two can talk."

Maki nodded. "Okay." She moved to sit on one of the couches in the front, and Hanayo moved to sit across from her wordlessly. "Do you want to talk?"

She shrugged sheepishly. "I don't really have anything interesting to talk about….."

The redhead 'hmmmm'ed. "What do you think about the wedding? Are you going to go?"

"I don't know," Hanayo mumbled, unwilling to make eye contact. "Probably not."

Maki frowned. "Do you ever actually leave the house?"

"It's been a while. I don't go places if they're crowded." She admitted, shrugging. "Comes with being a psychic, I guess? I don't need to hear everything everyone is thinking. It bothers me. And a lot of times it's not very nice thoughts."

"Yeah, but…." It was hard to counter that, since she herself didn't have that particular problem, but, "That's really unhealthy. And you know that." Maki said, not bothering to cushion the statement. "Even if you didn't, you definitely know Rin wishes you'd come hang out with her more outside the house." Even Maki could see that, and she was about as good at 'reading the situation' as a brick.

Hanayo squirmed a little. "But I really don't like it…..and Rin never really pressures me, so…."

"You just stay in the house and wait for her to come back." She finished, dripping with incredulousness. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but Rin is an empath, right? She knows how other people feel about things?"

"Yes…?" She replied, looking uncertain. That seemed to be one of her most frequented looks.

"Wouldn't that mean that she feels all the nasty things people are feeling whenever she goes outside, too?"

Hanayo blinked. "I…..That never…oh." She looked suddenly guilty. "Now I feel bad. She never mentions it…."

Maki sighed. "I'm not really in any place to say anything about it, but you should at least _consider_ going to the wedding." She said finally. "Not because you're obligated to or anything, but just because I'm willing to bet my life Rin would be _ecstatic_ if you came along. And it's a wedding, so everyone is probably going to be thinking about the wedding and how pretty it is or whatever. That's the minimal risk zone. Odds are you won't hear anything negative."

"You're, um, probably right." The brunette was touching her fingers together, looking up at Maki anxiously from the other side of the couch. "I'm sorry."

Now she felt awkward. Maki looked away. Ah, damn, she probably sounded mean. She at least wanted to try and salvage it. They could still be friends, right?

"I don't mean to be rude or anything!" She replied quickly. "I'm not – I'm not _trying_ to be a busybody, it's just that Rin is a _really good_ friend and I'd feel really bad if she had to show up to the wedding herself and I just thought maybe I could say something now and –"

"It's okay! Really!" Despite several attempts to assure her of that, Maki felt too embarrassed to stop rambling for the next few minutes.

Rin came home to find them avoiding eye contact and laughing nervously. She blinked twice.

"What'd I miss?"

"Maki came by with invitations for us," Hanayo explained. "Nozomi and Eli are getting married, so, they're for the wedding."

Rin bounced excitedly on the heels of her feet. "They're getting _married_?" She asked, seemingly wonderstruck. "That's amazing! I have to go say hi right away and then I have to hug them both and also I should get a gift or something oh boy what do you get for married people do you get them flowers or a normal gift do you think Nozomi would want a video game and –" She sucked in a deep breath, noting the offput looks she was getting from the other two. "When is the wedding?"

"January." Maki replied, glad that the run on sentence had come to an end, and also even more embarrassed that she had been doing the awkward version of that not ten minutes prior.

The orange haired girl nodded. She looked hopefully to Hanayo. "Kayo-chin, do you think maybe you could…..?"

Hanayo looked hesitant, but then she looked to Maki again and nodded. "I'm going to go to the wedding with you."

Rin cheered so loudly in excitement that Maki almost regretted talking Hanayo into it. Almost.

* * *

Nico paced her living room again, wandering in circles around the couch. After last night, and the morning following, she'd come to an unfortunate conclusion: her crush was getting out of hand.

"Why the hell did I even think that was a good idea?" She muttered, not bothering to mask her sigh. She could have avoided the entire problem last night if she just left well enough alone and made sure her door stayed locked but _nooo_.

There was no use, she'd need to finally pull out the big guns. Grimacing, Nico unlocked her phone, and it opened to the screen that'd been giving her so much grief for the past hour or so. She hesitated, as usual, over the call button on Nozomi's contact information.

She weighed the pros and cons again.

If she called, she would be admitting that Nozomi was right. And that was an awfully big con. But, Nozomi might offer advice, which would be a pro.

If she _didn't_ call her, her dignity might remain intact for a few days longer. Pros. However, she might also find some way to mess things up with Maki within those few days. Con.

Well, if having her bail her from the pound didn't already mess things up, then Nico could say with relative confidence that her charms would be enough to get her out of anything involving Maki, so, that decided, she opted not to call Nozomi.

She fumbled with the phone and hit the call button anyways.

"Dammit." She muttered, especially when Nozomi picked up on the first ring, giving her no chance to hang up.

" _Hello, Nico!"_ Nozomi greeted cheerfully. " _I thought you might call me today!"_

"What's up, Nozomi?"

" _I don't know, you're the one who called me."_ She laughed. " _So you should really be the one answering that question._ "

Nico scoffed into the phone. "What, I can't call my dear friend just because I feel like it?"

" _Pretty much."_ Nozomi countered, " _So what do you need?"_

She bit her lip. "I don't _need_ anything, I was just….." Nico huffed. "You know what? I cave. Help me get a date with Maki, this is driving me insane."

It sounded like Nozomi clapped on the other line. " _Congratulations! This is your new record on being stubborn, but I knew you'd give up eventually. Come over later and I'll give you your honorary 'world's most stubborn baby' award."_

"Hey, I thought you _wanted_ me to do this? I mean, I can always just go back to ignoring her as a possibility if you insist –"

" _That's a lie."_ Nozomi snickered, cutting her off, " _But fine, fine, I'll stop teasing you. What do you need help with?_ "

Nico huffed. "Well, I mean, we get along, but we also can't go more than an hour without arguing. I know she likes dogs, but I don't think the whole 'werewolf' thing is enough on it's own, and I don't want to get it involved any more than it already has been. I'm embarrassing myself constantly."

" _Okay….? What does this have to do with you confessing?_ "

She coughed, trying to hide a blush Nozomi couldn't see anyways. "Well, I just, thought I'd give you a summary of what we're at now. Just for clarification reasons, you know? Of course my incredible self already has a plan for confessing."

" _Which would be….what, exactly?"_ Her friend pried.

"I'm just gonna say it. It can't be that hard, and Maki is about as romantic as a cardboard box, anyways. I'm sure she'll appreciate it that way." Nico replied defensively.

Nozomi made a 'tsk, tsk' sound. " _That's where you're wrong. Maki is definitely the type of girl that would appreciate something romantic_. _Don't you have any sense of romance yourself?_ "

"Err….I guess I can kind of see her liking romantic things….." Nico tried to imagine Maki, across the table from her at a fancy restaurant. She was wearing a cute outfit, a skirt and a red jacket…

Nico derailed that train of thought before it could evolve into full-blown fantasy mode. "S-so, what's romantic enough for her? I mean, I don't have much to work with if I'm treating her to dinner….."

" _How about the movies?_ " Nozomi suggested amicably. _"There's a romantic comedy in theaters right now, I'm sure that'll be a good enough place to take her. I'm sure a smooth operator like you knows what to do from there, right, Nicocchi?"_

She coughed. "Of course! But, just in case, why don't you go ahead and tell me. Just as like, a refresher. 'Cause I'm so full of great thematic dating advice that I get it mixed up sometimes, you know?"

" _Naturally_." She laughed. " _Just be yourself and see if you can cut back on the arguments for just a little while. If you're lucky you might be able to hold hands by the end of the day! Or maybe you're aiming for a kiss..?"_

"No way." Nico denied flatly. Too early. "But how do I ask her in the first place?"

" _Just ask however you think you should. That's not what I can help you with._ "

Nico made a dissatisfied noise, but eventually sighed. "Thanks, Nozomi."

" _Good luck, Nicocchi! Tell me how it goes!"_

They hung up, and Nico set the phone down with a deep sigh, collapsing onto the couch. This would be hard, but she could swallow her pride and ask first. Besides, last time she tried the inverse approach (read, last night) she got in trouble, so she might as well bend a little bit.

She decided to ask tomorrow. They'd both need some sleep after what happened earlier, anyways.

* * *

 **AN: We finally get a looksie into what Nico is like when she's a wolf. Sort of, anyways. This chapter was really Maki-heavy, but next chapter I plan on balancing it out by making that more Nico heavy. During their date which is _finally_ happening. lmao it took me nine chapters just to get Nico to make _plans_. She really earned that 'world's most stubborn baby' award.**

 **Anyways, my finals are over, I'm alive, and I didn't fail miserably! (excluding math maybe haha). There weren't many questions, so I guess instead of responding to those im going to shamelessly self promo my one shot. It exists. Consider it self-promod haha. Not much else going on with me, I'm on break and should have enough time to make some side stories, but this one will be my main and as such, will hopefully keep the so-far consistent schedule. I guess that's really it, haha. See you guys soon!**

 ***edit: you can tell this was rushed because I just went back and read it and noticed I managed to misspell the fucking _title drop (_ forgot the 'to' somehow) which kind of made me cry inside. I'm sure it has other, more quality based errors I'm too tired to notice but it's too late to take the chapter back so you have to sift through my half-delirious finals brain writing lmao. I don't think there are other spelling errors, but in retrospect I shouldn't have kept the stuff I wrote during finals week. I'm sorry. Next chapter will be better.**


	10. Chapter 10

"Nico, have you been procrastinating on something?"

Nico blinked, putting the food that she'd been raising to her mouth down and settling for fixing the girl across from her with a puzzled look. "What do you mean? I haven't been stalling on anything that I know of."

Rin hummed in discontentment, leaning back as far as she could in her chair as she, presumably, tried to put what she was asking into better words.

The younger girl had invited Nico to lunch two days ago, reasoning that it'd been a little while since they hung out and she was interested in getting to know her better. Also, she wanted to talk. A lot. About Nozomi and Eli's wedding, and about Hanayo, and how she was going to the aforementioned wedding, and also about sports and cats (though some might think cats were a poor choice, Nico actually had nothing against them, werewolf-ishness and all. They were pleasant little things, really…) and bad romance novels and anything else she thought Nico might have an interest in.

It was kind of refreshing to have this much normal conversation for once. Rin wasn't bad company, that was for damn sure.

The girl in question seemed to finally figure out what she wanted to get across, because she leaned in towards the table again. "I don't know! You just seem…. _apprehensive_ , nya!"

"Apprehensive _how,_ exactly?" She asked, eyeing Rin skeptically. She knew she was an empath, yeah, so the feeling was probably accurate, but the only thing she had to be apprehensive about was how she was totally stalling on asking Maki on that da- son of a bitch that's exactly what Rin was probably picking up on. Nico resisted the urge to facepalm.

Rin hummed again, looking up. "That's what I was wondering! It's either a procrastinating nervous or an anticipating nervous." She paused, then lit up. "Oh! Oh! I know! Rin knows what it is!"

She prepared herself for maximum impact embarrassment. Somehow, Rin would know, and then somehow, Nozomi would know, and then _somehow,_ Maki would find out and totally reject the offer when she finally asked and-

"You're nervous about the full moon tomorrow, aren't you?" Rin grinned like the Cheshire cat. "Don't be worried, nya! Kayo-chin and I will take care of you! Nothing bad will happen on our watch!"

Nico wasn't sure if she should be relieved or exasperated. "You do know I transform like, every other night anyways, right?" It'd been happening a _lot_ , lately, in fact. She wasn't sure whether or not to be nervous, but, it'd calmed down over the last few days. After the pound disaster almost a week ago, she'd actually hit a nice lull. It would seem that, whatever part of her was in charge of transforming, it had taken a break.

She continued with what she'd been saying. "I hardly need assistance. And besides, it's not mandatory. Well, it is, but - ugh." What was a good way to explain it? "It's not like, the sun goes down and I absolutely _have to do it_ , right on the spot, wherever I'm at. That part is the same as usual. I'm never forced as long as I'm awake and not like, throwing up all over the place. The only difference it makes is that it's a little easier for me to get distracted by it."

Rin mouthed an 'O' shape. Nico stuffed some of the noodles into her mouth and used it as an excuse to stop talking for a moment. When she swallowed, Rin was still looking at her expectantly. "It's not even that big of a deal, seriously..." She shook her head. "Can we change the topic, or something?" She asked, arms crossed. "I mean, that's not really relevant right now. What were we talking about earlier?"

"You're nervous about something!" Rin chirruped excitedly. Why she would be excited about that was a mystery, though.

"Didn't we establish that it was just tomorrow night making me nervous?" Nico asked skeptically.

Rin shrugged. " _You_ did, but you didn't _feel_ nervous, nya. You just felt annoyed. I know something else is making you nervous, and now I really wanna help, nya! Tell me what has you all twisted up in knots!"

"Nothing does! Seriously!" Better to squash this line of questioning now before it got out of hand. Nip it in the bud, so to speak. Besides, if Rin ever did find out, she _was_ one of Maki's good friends, and who knows what she'd say….

"Oh! Oh! Now you're embarrassed! You're thinking about it, aren't you!" She said eagerly, standing up from the table to point dramatically. Nico yanked her back down when other people in the restaurant started looking. Rin brought it down to a whisper, but she was still grinning ecstatically. "What's embarrassing Nico, nya? Rin wants to know! Rin wants to know!"

"Rin needs to mind her own business!" Nico hissed, now flushed a brilliant shade of red. People were staring at them, and Rin was catching on to her…. It was only a matter of time. She could see the news headlines now: " _Lovely young woman, aged 21, dies of embarrassment induced self-implosion after crush on local hot medical student revealed in public. More about this shocking scandal on page 9!"_

Rin just grinned again, even wider. "You're embarrassed and nervous, and it's _purrsonal business_ – " Rin took a moment to snort at her own cat pun – "- sounds to me like Nico has a-"

"Don't say it, Rin." She warned, keeping her voice down.

"Big!"

"Stop right there!" She said, louder that time.

"Crush! ! ! !" The younger girl exploded, grabbing Nico's hands from across the table. "That's so cute! It's okay Nico! I have crushes too! Don't be embarrassed! Tell me about them!"

She shook her head firmly. "I can't. No can do."

Rin looked like she wanted to plead, but then thought better of it. "Okay, Nico. I've pushed your buttons enough for today, anyways, haha. Let's finish our lunch, 'kay?"

"Thanks." She replied, with a sigh of relief.

* * *

Later that day, she decided she was done stalling. Rin's conversation had let her know she really was doing it on purpose, so now she had to act. She had a time limit, and besides, putting it off like this just meant it'd be harder to try the longer she waited. Content with how mature and cool that sounded, she called Maki. It took a few rings for her to pick up, but she did.

" _Hello? Nico? I'm at work right now_."

"Oh. Shit, sorry, do you want me to hang up?" She asked, unsure of whether the sigh that followed the statement was annoyed or relieved.

" _No, you don't need to. I went into the bathroom to answer it. Try not to take too long, though. I'm supposed to be checking on an ICU patient in about….now."_

Nico swallowed. Not the most comforting of openings to talk with, but… "I was just wondering if you wanted to see a movie later tonight. You know, after you're off work? We haven't hung out in a few days, and I still wanted to treat you to something for bailing me from the pound a few days ago…"

" _You know you really don't have to treat me, right? It's not as if it was a huge hassle, and I had plenty of money lying around regardless….."_ She trailed off.

"Let me be chivalrous for once, okay?!" Nico complained, frustrated. Maki didn't sound irritated, and that was what was bothering her the most. Sensing the apparent lack of response, she huffed. "No response?"

" _Why is this so important to you? You're not really the chivalrous type, you know_."

Fine, time to just spit it out. "The person asking to go on the date is supposed to pay, aren't they?"

Maki was silent for a long while. Nico considered hanging up, but then the redhead finally chose to speak. " _I'm working until really late tonight, so I wouldn't be able to make it. Do you think…..we can do it, tomorrow, maybe?_ " She sounded hesitant. Nico felt a part of herself melting. How cute, she was nervous too….

But, at the same time – tomorrow? Literally the one day that would be even slightly inconvenient, for a couple of reasons? Why did it have to be tomorrow? Couldn't Maki have suggested the day after? Maybe she should suggest it instead, then.

Nico opened her mouth to do just that. "Sure! Tomorrow works great! I'll pick you up at 8. I'll be sure to put on something extra cute just for you, since I know you can't resist my Nico-Nico char-"

" _See you then! Bye_." Maki interrupted her hastily, voice clipped.

And with that, the line went dead, along with a small part of Nico's soul.

…..fuck.

She sighed. "Well, too late to fix _that_ one." Best to just pick an outfit or something. If she had anything to say about it, she was going to ensure that the date went _perfectly_.

* * *

"Maki, dear, if you keep pacing, I think you'll put a hole in the floor."

The mentioned redhead snapped out of her thoughts, blinking before dipping her head in embarrassment. "Sorry, Mom. I'm just thinking about something." Namely, her date – Nico had called it a _date_ , hadn't she? – that night. Was she going to be dressed right for the occasion? Movies weren't as fancy as an awards ceremony or a dinner so her formal dress was right out, but if it was a date, then just showing up in the sweater she slept in sometimes and some slacks would make her look underdressed. Should she dress formally, or casually, and if neither how did she mix both? What did Nico expect from her on the date –

"You're doing it again, honey." Her mother reminded her gently, and this time Maki flushed. She hadn't even realized it? She needed serious help if she was going to survive the night. Speaking of which…"What has you so distracted?"

Maki weighed her options, wondering if it would be worth it to lie. If she did it right, she could possibly extract some date advice from her mother, but, then again, that would potentially get her hopes up, and Maki didn't really want to do that…

Unfortunately, the decision was made for her. Her mother smiled knowingly. "I know that look. You're worrying about a crush, aren't you?"

"…Maybe." She admitted, grudgingly, before looking away, keeping her eyes on the ground. "I…have a date, tonight. I'm just worried about how I should dress and behave. It's my first, after all….." She trailed off, hoping she didn't need to actually ask for advice.

"This is so exciting!" Her mom clapped, startling Maki. "My daughter's very first date…it's a dream come true! Don't worry, Maki, and boy lucky enough to go on a date with you will love whatever you show up in…..but if you really want, I can help you with an outfit….?" She seemed hesitant about the last part, as she usually was when offering to do something personal – probably due to Maki's tendency to reject such offers, in all fairness - but Maki grinned weakly and motioned for her to follow her to her room. Her mother looked pleased with the situation.

Frankly, giddy might be a better description. "So, who's the lucky guy?"

She hesitated. "Um….he's…." A girl? Maki wasn't sure how her mother would take that. Frankly, she wasn't really hoping to ever give _full_ disclosure – what would that even sound like? 'Hey mom, I'm dating a girl and also she's a werewolf'? Not an option. Maybe after Maki figured out where she and Nico went, she'd at least consider letting them meet…but that was for another time. She forced a better answer out. "My date is kind of annoying sometimes, but I think it's because they care. We met at the hospital, actually." Half truth.

"You'll have to introduce me sometime, if he's going to be your boyfriend….."

"It's _a_ date, not a promise of more." Maki pointed out. "I can go back on this whenever I want. Can we please just pick an outfit, mom?"

"Oh, alright…..Come on, try on this skirt, it goes with your eyes…."

She sighed in relief. At least she wouldn't be going into it totally blind.

* * *

Nico checked the clock again and sighed. Eight o clock could not come fast enough. She was just sitting and stewing in her own nerves for almost an hour – served her right for getting ready so early, she guessed.

But, thankfully, her waiting was coming to an end. It was 7:46, so she could probably leave to go pick up Maki by that point. She dusted herself off and moved towards the car, checking her outfit one last time. A white sweater with a pink stripe across the front, and a long pleated skirt and some knee socks. Appropriately adorable, as expected of a fashion expert, but she was sure she could play it off as more casual if she had to.

Perfect datewear.

She grinned a little to herself and started up the car. It took nine minutes to reach the house, but, even though she was early, Maki was already outside. She looked up from something – was she reading a book? How long had she been waiting outside? –and checked her watch before raising an eyebrow. "You're early. Were you excited or something?"

"Tch. Don't flatter yours-" Nico bit her tongue. Why had that been her gut reaction? Damn tsunderes. It was infectious, evidently. She sighed. "Okay, maybe I was _kind of_ eager. But I didn't show up _super_ early, right? This is an appropriate time to show up." Right?

Maki nodded quickly and tucked her book away into a purse, standing up as she did. "Are you ready?"

She nodded sharply, trying to get an eyeful of the younger girl's outfit without being too obvious about it. A dark blue jacket and a white scarf, a long skirt not too different from hers, and knee high boots. Maki certainly knew how to dress to impress. She tried to divert her attention. "So, we're going to the theater not far from here. Do you want to catch a ride or do you think we should walk? It's a nice night out..." Nico let the offer hang for a moment.

The redhead looked around and, eventually, nodded again. "Sure, let's walk. No getting us lost this time, okay?"

"That was _one_ time, okay?" Nico replied, crossing her arms. "Besides, it's kind of hard to get lost on the way to a theater that you also know how to get to!"

"If you say so…." Maki trailed off, evidently unconvinced.

There was a lull in conversation for a few minutes. "It really is a nice night out. It's so clear; this would be great weather for stargazing." The younger of the two commented idly, eyes locked on the sky above them.

Nico shrugged and risked a glance up as well, to no surprise her attention was caught first by the moon. Her voice got caught for a second, but eventually she forced herself to look away and the tension in her chest let up a little. "You're into stars and stuff, huh? I've tried to get into it a few times, but I don't have a telescope, and I'm always getting distracted. Guess it's just not for me." She raised her arms in a 'what can you do' sort of gesture.

Maki tipped her head curiously. "Distracted by what? Is it noisy at night by your house?"

She snorted. "No, idiot. What do you _think_ I'd get distracted by? You wouldn't happen to have forgotten the whole werewolf thing, right?"

"Oh, right." Maki looked a little embarrassed for not having thought of that. "I thought you said it didn't affect you? I mean, it looks like tonight is a full moon, and you're your same annoying self, so…."

"I'm hurt." Nico replied sarcastically, arms crossed. "And, I guess if I had to explain it…it's sort of like…..I have a hard time looking away. You ever hear that myth that says that, if a werewolf looks at a perfect circle, they'll transform? I mean, I can confirm that it's bullshit, but it might've been based around _something_ , and I'm betting it's the moon. I'm never forced, but it can be _compelling_ , if that makes any sense?"

"It does." She said after a moment. "Why did you agree to come tonight, then? Wouldn't you want to wait for a better time…?"

Nico laughed, rubbing her head sheepishly. "Well, what can I say? I was really excited about this date. I guess I forgot about it."

Though it wasn't quite the desired effect, Maki blushed as red as her hair at the statement, so Nico decided to take credit for that. She grinned again, moving in closer and giving the taller girl a little hip bump. She looked mortified. "What, does the 'D' word scare you? We don't _have_ to do anything romantic, I get it if this is gonna be like, a friend date, but at the same time, if you want….well. I'm the one who asked for a date, so I guess I couldn't _complain_ if you were to decide to –"

"Oh, look, the movie theater. Let's get inside." Maki said hurriedly, all but running the rest of the way to the building.

Nico pouted, then ran a hand through her hair before running after her, ducking into the building just after the redhead. Maki was looking over the titles casually, apparently over her little embarrassment episode already. "Which movie did you take me here to see, anyways?"

"Huh? Oh, that!" She beamed and pointed to the romantic comedy. "Well, since it's a date, and you're a big nerd, I figured a sappy movie like this would be perfect!"

Maki glanced at the poster and frowned. "It looks kind of stupid." She said bluntly. "Shouldn't we see something decent?"

"R-right." She agreed, trying not to sound disappointed. Most of the other movies were action movies, but maybe a spy flick could be romantic, or that animated one about the tiny girl and the borrowing, or something….. "What would you rather see, then?"

She shrugged in response and looked over the posters in the 'now showing' section. Finally, she pointed at one. "How about this one? I've heard of the composer before." Wow, what a nerd, of course she'd choose based on the _composer_ , of all things…..didn't she care at all about the actors? Nico followed the direction of her finger. Then she dropped into a deadpan expression.

"Maki, that's a horror movie."

"So?" The younger girl replied, clearly not getting the point.

" _So_ , that's about as romantic as a sack of potatoes!" She exploded, gesturing angrily to the poster. "A sack of potatoes that's bleeding and has bad pacing!"

Maki twirled some hair around her finger. "I don't go to the movies very often…I just thought it looked decent, is all….."

Remembering Nozomi's advice, Nico let out a sigh that lasted longer than she previously thought she was capable of. "Okay, okay, that was a little harsh. I guess if you really want, we can go watch the horror movie." This was _definitely_ going to bite her in the ass during the showing, but Maki had looked upset, so….ugh. No, this was definitely going to make her experience a little less fun. On the bright side, though, maybe Maki would get scared and they'd cuddle? Unlikely again, but a girl can dream.

Maki perked up a little bit, and Nico went to order the tickets for the next showing, which was in around ten minutes. In the meantime, the redhead got popcorn and a few boxes of candy. They moved into the theater and Nico made sure to pick the best seats for a date.

This was the holy grail that Nozomi had taught her about way back in high school. Every time she was third wheeling on a movie date, Eli and Nozomi would move to the upper part of the theater, towards the back and in the row that only had two seats, on the side of the stairs. If they placed themselves one down from the very top, they'd have a perfect position to both _see_ the movie when they felt like it and also the freedom to _totally ignore_ the movie and spend the entire two and a half hours making out or looking at each other with dopey expressions and eating candy.

It was probably the only time her adventures as a third wheel taught her anything. She wasn't recalling her days of sitting behind them while they made out in these very seats _too_ fondly or anything, but at least it had a use.

"This is kind of a weird place to sit." Maki pointed out idly, but sat down where Nico directed her anyways.

Nico took the seat next to the pathway. "These are like, the best seats in the house, trust me. We can see the whole screen, and yeah, it's at a bit of an angle, but we're separated from the rest of the chairs so we can talk a little bit without bothering a ton of people, and also it's easier for me to get up and get popcorn refills. It's like, a science, Maki. You gotta put your trust in the side seats!"

Disregarding the fact that she'd left the biggest factor in her choosing these seats out, Maki seemed to accept that answer. "I guess that makes sense."

After a few ads, the movie started, and Nico could see why Maki had noticed it by composer. The soundtrack wasn't bad. Though, she would have preferred it if it wasn't making her more and more uncomfortable with every passing second.

At least Maki was getting into it.

The introduction wasn't very frightening after the initial panning shot of all the creepy shit in some basement, so it wasn't too big of a problem for her, and she instead focused on checking every so often for any reactions on Maki's part. She tried to bring their arms together, but Maki flinched away; probably just a little anxious from the score and the crawly things.

Nico cursed internally. The whole damn movie was working against her romantic date moves. This wasn't how the date was supposed to go! Why couldn't this stupid movie work in her favor?!

It was when the jump scares began that she started having bigger problems. Nico jolted up in her seat the first time, gripping the armrests like they could protect her from something. Maki looked over curiously. "Just didn't expect that, is all. The great Nico isn't actually _scared_ of some stupid movie," She insisted.

"If you say so," Maki mumbled, turning her eyes back to the screen. Nico did her best not to sulk. She'd brought her here to have a date, not get owned by some stupid horror movie.

The second time, Nico caught herself before she made any sudden movement, instead gripping even harder on the armrests.

The third time, something ripped.

Maki looked over, eyes wide. Nico shakily took her hands off the armrest, folding them in her lap and tucking them slightly under her legs. "O-ops. Still not, sc-scared or anything, though….."

"How did you _do_ that?" The redhead asked, bewildered. "They're not super cushioned or anything, there's not much to rip…."

She shrugged. "I was just. Tensing. Seeing if I could maybe exercise a little while we're here! Naturally!"

"You're totally scared, and there's still no way you could rip that without help." She replied flatly.

"It's an old theater, okay? I'm sure that one was like, already struggling and we just didn't notice. Trust me."

"Fine, if you say so." Maki said, finally putting her attention back on the movie.

Five minutes after the fact, she got up. "I really need to pee. Be right back!"

"Okay. I'll watch the popcorn."

She let out a sigh of relief as soon as she stepped out of the theater, and grumbled as she walked towards the bathroom. "God, how much longer can that movie get? Why does Maki have to like the shittiest movies _ever_?" Nico took a deep breath. "But, if she wants to watch it, she wants to watch it. I can't pick fights on a date…..ugh…" She turned around to see if there was a water fountain or something, and instead bumped right into a certain redhead.

"You know, you could just tell me you don't like the movie." She said, crossing her arms.

Nico felt a cold sweat coming on. "I'm sorry! I just don't like horror movies! I can still watch it with you if you really want to see it, I wasn't trying to be rude-" Why was she even _here_ , wasn't she watching the popcorn-

Then Maki did something surprising – she laughed a little. "Come on, let's just go see your romantic comedy instead. There's another showing in five minutes, we can just get more tickets."

"But don't you want to finish your movie?" She asked, glancing back at the theater they'd just left.

"Not really. It was too predictable, and you're right – I didn't get all dressed up to go on a shitty date. That horror movie wasn't date material." Maki admitted, shutting her eyes for a minute. She offered the shorter girl a little smile when she opened them, though. "So, you're the one who asked for the date – what do you want to do?"

She grinned. "Let's go watch a shitty rom com."

* * *

The rom com was just as bad as Maki had predicted, but Nico thought it had its charms, because she was able to spend a lot more of the movie flirting and a lot less of it flinching.

And, during a particularly cheesy scene, when the protagonist was getting ready to make a ridiculous speech about love, she tapped Maki's shoulder. "What?" She asked, sounding only vaguely annoyed. Probably not because she was invested in the move but because she thought the movie was terrible.

"I have something for you." She said quietly, copying the character's words from moments before.

"Like what?"

She kissed her on the nose.

Maki didn't say anything for almost half an hour after that, but Nico was satisfied with herself, because the way Maki was glowing, she could put space heaters to shame. Score one for Nico. It was nothing on Nozomi and Eli's record, and really, they only kissed once, but Nico noted with much pleasure that Maki spent a lot more of the time during this movie looking over at her.

She'd count this as a successful movie date.

* * *

 **AN: That date wasn't as gay as I wanted it to be but I had to restrain myself because it was still the first haha. Also I really liked the movie scenes TBH like I don't know exactly how horror movies work because I've seen like -2 of them but I play spoopy video games sometimes so I imagine the soundtrack is just as important in movies as it is in those. Hence hiring good composers that Maki would know the name of because she's a dork. Anyways, I finished this late last night but waited till now to post it in case I overlooked a bunch of typos or something while I was tired. I'm thinking I might have a faster update for chapter 11 though because I'm almost as excited for next chapter as I was for this one, haha.**

 **Well, that's about it for this AN, actually. Thanks for reading and see you soon, hopefully!**


	11. Chapter 11

It seemed like it would take ages for the movie to finish, and Maki wasn't sure if she wanted to sit it out and take her chances with self-immolating or take a page from Nico's book and ask to use the bathroom even though she hadn't been drinking anything for the whole movie.

She opted for the former when Nico – her _date_ , who was on a _date_ with her –weaseled her way over the seat's armrest in such a way that she could actually wrap her arm around her. Not her shoulder, of course, because Nico was a little too short for that, but around her arm.

It was kind of cute.

Maki drummed her fingers on the other side of the armrest, feeling antsy but not wanting to move and disturb her and when on earth would this movie _end_ -

"Do you need to pee or something?" Nico asked, abruptly, and Maki realized it must have shown on her face that she was trying not to fidget.

She shook her head. "No." She said quickly. "I don't have to use the toilet."

"What, because you already used the seat?" The older of the two teased, jabbing her arm. "You look like you just stole from the friggin cookie jar, chill out. It's a date, but you can still ask me to stop-"

"No," She said, just as quickly as the last time. "You don't have to – I mean, I don't _dis_ like it-" Why was it that every time she opened her mouth to talk about things like this, a bunch of garbage came out? Maki stopped herself there and slowly removed her arm from Nico's grip. Nico gave her a curious look, but then she put it loosely around the shorter girl's shoulder. "…I thought you were supposed to do it like that," She said finally.

Nice save. Internally, she fist pumped.

Nico laughed in her face. "Oh my god, you're such a baby!"

Not bothering to respond, Maki sunk lower into her seat, embarrassed. She guessed she wasn't as smooth as she thought.

Thankfully, the movie actually didn't last that much longer than that, and she let out a sigh of relief when they hit the night air again. Sitting in a crowded theater with a girl climbing all over her arm certainly had a way of making her feel overheated. "So, the movie was garbage," Maki started.

Nico didn't respond, and it took a few seconds for Maki to remember why she was spacing out. She rectified the situation by slinging an arm around her shoulder again, trying to play off the way the motion forced Nico's head down a little. "So," She said, with more vigor this time, "That movie was garbage, wasn't it?"

"Oh, definitely." Nico agreed readily. "The pacing was gross and the plot was overused. But I wasn't in there to pay attention to the _movie_ , you kno-"

"Anyways, how about we go to dinner?" The redhead interrupted quickly, before the line could be finished. "I mean, my treat, since I'll be keeping you even later…."

"You want to _keep me_ , huh?"

Maki's face went red for probably the hundredth time that day. "Please stop hitting on me, I don't think I can handle it right now."

Nico laughed apologetically. "Sorry, I'm just trying to get everything out of my system. That's just how I figured dates went, you know?"

"Am I supposed to flirt too?" She asked, suddenly curious. Now that she thought about it, Nico had probably been on dates before….did she expect pick-up lines or were those her thing?

"Well, _I'd_ flirt with me, but you don't need to!" She said, waving it off with a smug grin. "I'm so great the complimenting does itself, really. I'm cute, romantic, and chivalrous!"

"And so humble, too." Maki said flatly, crossing her arms. "I guess if anything else flirting would just stoke your ego, so it's just as well that I don't."

Nico stuck her tongue out. And Maki was the childish one? Please. She straightened out her jacket. "Most places are closed but I think that pancake place is open all night. Want to get dinner or not?"

She shrugged. "Sure! They do have the best pancakes in the world…."

"This again?" Maki asked, though she wasn't as annoyed as she'd have the other girl believe. "I think the ones you get when you go to those hotel breakfast things are better. You get to put whatever you want on it yourself."

"You can put whatever you want on any damn pancake!" Nico retorted. "Nothing is stopping you from asking the lady at Denny's for whipped cream except that you're too much of a baby to do it!"

Maki huffed. "What if I just don't like their whipped cream?"

"You're joking, right?" She asked incredulously. "It's _whipped cream_ , it-"

Her phone rang and interrupted, and Maki picked up, recognizing the ringtone she'd set for Honoka. "Hello? What's up?"

" _Hey Maki!"_ She greeted, before clearing her throat. " _Please tell me Nico is with you?"_

Maki raised an eyebrow, even if the gesture couldn't reach Honoka. She glanced over at the person in question. "Yeah, she's right here. Why?" Nico perked up a little when she realized the conversation was about her.

"Who is it? Why are we talking about me?" Maki made a 'shush' gesture and put the phone on speaker just in time for Honoka's relieved sigh.

" _Oh, phew! Me and Yukiho were out here checking on some stuff and, uh…..someone set a bunch of bear traps, where all the deer are? I was worried she might get stuck in one!"_ Honoka laughed sheepishly. Nico and Maki exchanged a glance. " _Don't let her out of your sight, okay? Yukiho is getting rid of them, so we don't have anything to worry about after this!"_

Nico cleared her throat. "You know, I can hear you….I'm not an infant."

" _Eeh? But I thought you would be – Wait, I'm confused. I thought tonight was the-"_

"Full moon, yeah. I don't know how often it bears repeating, but I don't really work the same way as a movie werewolf." She replied dryly.

Now Maki coughed. "I think what she _means_ to say, is 'thank you for being worried about me'! Right, Nico?" She cast a small glare to the other girl.

"Eheh, yeah, thanks for that." Nico scratched at the back of her head absently. "I really could have gotten stuck in something like that."

" _No problem!"_ Honoka said, chipper as ever. " _I'll see you around, alright?_ "

"See you."

"Bye."

After that, they hung up, the whipped cream discourse long forgotten. Maki was frowning, taken a bit off guard by the news. "Who sets bear traps this close to a city?"

Nico shrugged. "It probably wasn't intended for me."

She mumbled her agreement, but was still very disgruntled. "Whatever, if you say so… let's just go get something to eat."

"Stop moping! We're on a date!"

"Technically, the date ended at the theaters." Maki pointed out. "What if I'm just treating you to dinner as a friend?"

The werewolf made the most scandalized face Maki had ever seen. She laughed and couldn't even cover it properly by pretending to cough. Nico was fuming. "It's not funny! You can't play with a maiden's heart like that!"

"You're a _maiden_? I think that's the most ridiculous thing I've heard all week!"

They argued until they made their way into the store, probably startling the person working the front counter – it seemed unlikely that anyone came in at this hour when they weren't either drunk or traveling, and they were neither. It was to be expected though, it was almost one in the morning.

She was surprised when Nico ordered a coffee, though. "Aren't you going to want to go to sleep after this?"

Nico shook her head. "Nah, not until the sun is up, but then I'll crash for a few hours."

"As long as you're getting enough sleep, I guess…." She sighed. "So, we're getting pancakes, right?"

"Obviously."

It didn't take long for their order to get there, considering it was literally only the two of them and the staff in the entire building. Specifically to prove Nico wrong, Maki asked for whipped cream on hers. The waitress gave her a weird look but complied.

Maki was only smug for a minute before realizing that she should really have higher standards for what she considered 'impressive'. There was a brief silence while they ate. Nico broke it.

"Soo….the date. Did you have fun?"

She thought about it, bringing a piece of pancake with too much whipped cream on it to her mouth. "Hmm….Not really," She said finally, once she'd finished chewing. Nico looked stricken, but she wasn't finished talking. "But, I definitely enjoyed myself."

"How the hell can you enjoy yourself but not have fun?" She asked, irritably.

"Easily," She said, offering a slight smile. "I was just trying too hard to take it seriously. So, how about next time we have a date-" hopefully it wasn't rude of her to assume there'd be a next time – "We do it with less interruptions?"

"Deal!" Nico said quickly, before leaning back and trying to pretend she wasn't so eager. "I mean….how about spaghetti again at my house?"

She laughed. "Deal."

The rest of their dinner was finished in high spirits.

* * *

It was really quiet at two in the morning. That wasn't a very _surprising_ observation, but it was on Nico made nonetheless. After she'd walked Maki back home, she drove back – she'd nearly forgotten she'd taken the car there, but was relieved when she remembered that her mom had the day off for once today so she didn't need it.

As soon as she'd parked it, though, she decided she might as well get out and wander a bit. A little chill would help her stay awake anyways, right?

She kept telling herself that until she bumped into someone else with the same odd idea. Not literally, but she did come quite close, since she was so distracted by the scenery and the sky. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" She blinked a few times, until a curious pair of green eyes landed on hers. "Oh. I'm fine. Are you? What are you doing out this time of night?"

Green-eyes shrugged and gave her a mirthful kind of smile. "I could ask the same of you. I'm fine, though."

Nico shrugged. "Good point." She couldn't _quite_ place it, but, this girl looked familiar. Maybe it was the haircut? No, she seemed pretty memorable….. "Have we met before?" She asked the brunette carefully.

"I wouldn't know. Maybe. Why, do I seem familiar?"

She hummed, discontent. "I swear, I've seen you somewhere….." Nico tried to recall anyone new she'd met. Not from the bar, not from the movies, nobody was in the restaurant…..She snapped as it came to her. "You've been hanging out with Honoka, right? I think Nozomi sent me a picture of her goofing off, and you were there."

The stranger blinked, apparently surprised for the briefest of moments. "Yes, I have been hanging out with a girl named Honoka. I've heard nothing of Nozomi, though…."

"You might not have met her but if you hang around Honoka long enough I'm sure you will." Nico said, waving it off.

"I look forward to that, then." She said, before something buzzed and she pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Oh. I guess I should be going. Pleasure to meet you…." She trailed off, obviously waiting for a name.

"Nico." She replied, not wanting to give her full name. Maybe later…when it wasn't an absurd time in the morning and she was feeling a little more trustful.

"Tsubasa. I'll be seeing you."

They parted ways. Nico decided she'd had enough of wandering and headed back home. It wasn't a surprise that everyone was asleep when she got back, but it was a little bit disappointing. She slumped into the couch with another cup of coffee, checking the clock – 2:47 AM.

"Four hours to go…." She grumbled.

Sunrise couldn't come fast enough.

* * *

It took a while for Nico to roll out of bed after she'd finally allowed herself to go to it.

Or, it would have taken her a while, if someone hadn't rudely literally pushed her off the bed not four hours after she finally fell asleep. "WHAT THE HELL?!"

"That's a swear!" A high voice accused.

"Cocoro, I swear to god if you don't give me a good reason for having woken me up….."

"Your friend is here!" The younger sibling explained, pointing out into the living room. "She's been here for like a whole ten minutes and you still aren't awake so Cocoa and I came in because we didn't want her to be bored and –"

Nico yawned and ran a hand through her hair, annoyed but no longer directing it at her sister. "Okay, okay, I get the picture…..ugghh….go tell her I'm up…."

She was still yawning when Nozomi came in, grinning. "Aww, Nicocchi is cute when she's sleepy!"

"Shuttt uuuupp…" She whined. "I've gotten four hours of sleep! I had to stay up all last night!"

"Why?" The taller girl asked curiously, taking a seat on the bed with her.

Nico grumbled and continued to run her fingers through the knots in her hair. "Cause I felt like it. I didn't want to wake up anyone else being a pain in the ass at the door last night. At least other times I'll be quiet after a few minutes."

Nozomi nodded to the explanation, helping her pull the knots out. "Makes sense. But I'm here about a much more pressing question I have…." She turned Nico around to face her, leaning in with a somehow predatory grin. "How did Nicocchi's date go last night?"

She leaned back, doing her best not to break into a cold sweat. "How do you even know it was last night?"

"Did you really think you could do it….without my noticing?" Nozomi asked, head tilted. "I know everything that goes on when it's concerning my dear sweet daughter-"

"I'm not your kid!" She protested.

Nozomi continued without faltering. "So tell me what happened at the movies!"

She laughed sheepishly. "Fine, fine. It actually went a lot better than I expected! We agreed to have a second date!"

The purple haired girl clapped. "That's perfect! Now you can't refuse when I tell you that you and Maki are going on a double date with me and Elicchi!"

"H-hey, wait, I never agreed to that!"

Nozomi grinned devilishly. "Well, you want to kiss her, don't you? If I'm right there with Elicchi, we can play matchmaker much easier! And besides!" She shook Nico by the shoulders. "I've been waiting for this double date since I was in grade school! You can't back out now!"

"A-are you really trying to guilt trip me?!" Was it really _working_? Nico shifted further back on the bed again, and Nozomi followed, undeterred, giving her puppy eyes. God, people like Nozomi should not be so practiced in the art of puppy dog eyes. Her resolve to tell her no faltered. Was this how Eli felt constantly? "Fine!" She yelped. "I'll go on the double date! Stop it already!"

She laughed. "Good girl. Besides, you would have had to go anyways. I sent two of my most trusted agents to convince Maki to go on the date."

Nico scowled. "Seriously? You're terrible. Who'd you send with Eli?"

Nozomi shook her head. "Elicchi was too embarrassed to go after what happened at your house, so I sent Honoka and Rin instead. If Maki doesn't give up within the first five minutes, then she has a will of steel, but eventually they'll convince her. I promised them something special if they could manage it within the hour, though. They're more determined than ever."

"That's so cruel…." The shorter girl shuddered.

The taller of the two hummed. "You're lucky I came myself and that you agreed before I had to punish you. Why don't we catch up while I'm here? You can tell me all about your new _girlfriend_ …"

"Somebody save me…." Nico grumbled, encased in Nozomi's full-body hug.

* * *

"SOMEBODY SAVE ME! ! !"

"I'm! TRYING!" Maki shouted in response, pushing on the door with her back. The pounding continued. "What the hell Hanayo? Why didn't you warn me or something? They're insane!"

Hanayo stammered out something like an apology. "I didn't think Honoka would pop out of nowhere and start bothering you! I'm sorry!"

"Hell if I'm going to find out! Help me with the door! Honoka is going to overpower m-"

"Too late! We've arrived!" The door was slammed open with a loud bang, and Hanayo jumped back in time. Maki did not, falling prey to Rin's perfectly executed pounce. She landed on her ass with a perfect view of Rin grinning enthusiastically right in her face and, behind her, Honoka laughing and slamming the door shut.

Rin rolled off of her and Honoka stood above her, black eyes radiating with malice. "You….." She started darkly. "You…..ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO GO ON A QUADRUPLE DATE WITH US!"

"What the fuck is a quadruple date?" Maki asked, starting to stand up.

She was, naturally, pushed right back onto the floor by a very excited Rin. "A quadruple date is the thing that you're going to be doing with us in two days! That's me and Hanayo, you and Nico, Nozomi and Eli, and Honoka and –"

"My new girlfriend," she said, practically glowing with pride.

"Who would that be?" The redhead asked, trying to see if she could get up slowly and escape Rin's notice before running. She mentally apologized to Hanayo. Hanayo nodded in understanding. Oh, right, psychic. Man, how many times was she going to forget that? Regardless, she was almost standing….almost…..

"You'll find out on the quadruple date, nya!" Oh god damn it.

From her not-so-new position on the floor, Maki glared. "And what makes you so sure I'm going to agree to this double date? Or Nico, for that matter?"

"Easy!" Honoka said cheerfully, pupils flashing for a brief moment. "Until you agree, nobody leaves this room!"

The door clicked as it was locked by no particular person. Not ominous at all. Maki made a split second decision.

"Congratulations, I've agreed to the date. Please let me leave."

Honoka and Rin high fived. "Now we just have to wait for Kayo-chin to agree!" Rin said cheerfully. "It's only seven other people! Nothing too hard, right?"

Hanayo fainted, managing to push Maki onto the floor for what was hopefully the last time. "Oh! Dogpile!" Honoka cheered. This was punctuated by even more weight on Maki's back. Then a pause before Rin jumped on as well.

"I need new friends."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Yazawa house, Nozomi had extracted just about every detail about the date from Nico, and Nico, in turn, had extracted just about every detail about Eli and Nozomi's love live. Or, rather, Nozomi had decided to talk about how often she gets laid to see how long it would take Nico to leave the room. In a record setting four seconds, she left the safety of her blankets and moved towards the fridge for food.

"You're such a baby," Nozomi admonished. "I didn't even get to tell you about the santa costume!"

"You're _sersiously_ weird." She shot back, shutting the fridge after she pulled out something – her mom had restocked on the bacon, _sweet_ – that she set on the counter.

"You know I'm kidding, right?" The taller girl asked, pulling up a chair.

Nico cracked the bag open, but instead of moving towards the stove to cook it, she sat down across from Nozomi and took a piece out to nibble on, shrugging. "I actually have a hard time telling. You're really shameless when it comes to your bedroom life with Eli."

Nozomi gave her an expression that was somewhere between concern and disbelief. "You're not going to cook that?" Nico shrugged again. "And I'm the weird one." She said flatly.

"Yup." She replied, popping the 'p' sound. "I mean, I can eat it this way and not get sick, and it means I don't have to spend time cooking it OR share, soo…..Raw bacon it is." She ate another strip as if to prove her point.

"Shame on you. I bet you'd cook it if Maki was here." Nozomi teased, leaning forward on the table. "Maybe I should make it a point to tell her you have dog breath."

Nico stuck her tongue out. "That's not true! 'Sides, we're in _my_ house, if I don't feel like cooking it I don't feel like cooking it – nobody was supposed to come over today, anyways. Back to the _point_ …..where's this double date going to be?"

Nozomi shrugged. "We aren't completely sure, but we were tossing around ideas, and we plan on putting it to a vote when we all meet up. Eli wanted to go to a restaurant, Rin wanted to go to a fair, Honoka suggested a karaoke bar, but I'm not sure how fun that would be for Maki and the other younger ones….."

"Wait, wait, I thought it was just a double date? Why are Rin and Honoka-"

The purple haired girl waved her off. "I got a text from Honoka saying they got Maki to agree to the date, and the reward I promised them was that I would make it a quadruple date." She snickered. "So I guess you're stuck with six of us."

"Sounds like a big group." She noted, idly. "Where do you want to go, Nozomi?"

"Hm? I don't see where that matters."

Nico scoffed. "Don't see where it matters? You're the one who arranged it, aren't you? _You_ wanted this double date! It's only fair that you also be the one to pick the location, isn't it?"

She flushed. "I guess if you put it that way, I'd like to go to the karaoke bar."

"Then that's where we're going." She said confidently, pushing back in her chair. "I'll tell Maki to pick it too, so that way we'll have the majority vote no matter what."

Nozomi raised an eyebrow. "That's only four if you count Honoka. If it gets to a draw, I'd change my vote."

Nico shook her head. "Nope, because, although you claim to be the one with future sight, I can already tell you _exactly_ what's going to happen as soon as you cast your vote." She bragged.

"And that would be?"

"Eli changes her vote right away. Instantaneous reaction." She said firmly. "There's no way she wouldn't, right? Trust me, your place will get picked."

She laughed. "That was going to be my line."

* * *

"I still can't believe you let us get talked into this," Maki sighed, taking some time to fix the collar of her shirt in the mirror. "Wasn't the plan to have our next date at your house?"

"Hey, you got talked into it too!" Nico complained, ducking back into the room to look for something. "Have you seen my jacket?"

She shook her head. "No, I haven't. Should you just borrow one of mine? They'll be here any minute to pick us up."

"No, I can find it, don't worry."

Both of them were at Maki's house, prepping for the 'double' date at the karaoke bar. The redhead had assumed it would be more of a casual thing, but Nico insisted that they go the full mile since their last date wasn't 'romantic enough'. Eventually she found out it was just an excuse for Nico to play dress up with her, which she spent a good amount of time being mildly offended about, but got over quickly enough.

Besides, she did look pretty good in the stuff Nico had pulled out of her closet.

"Found it!" Nico said triumphantly, from downstairs. Maki moved for the staircase and met her halfway. "It was in the kitchen."

"Congratulations, here's your gold star." She said sarcastically.

Nico scowled. "Rude. Want to wait in the front?"

She shrugged, but made her way over to the door, holding it open for the shorter girl. Even though there was a perfectly acceptable porch swing, they sat on the steps. "So, you don't think it'll be _too_ hectic, right?"

"Let's see…we're going to a karaoke bar, Honoka is going to be there, Nozomi has a personal stake in seeing me do stupid things, _and_ there's the possibility of alcohol." She listed the details off on her fingers. "What do you think?"

"I think I'm going to have an aneurism." She replied bluntly. Though… "I guess it might be kind of fun. Going as a group like this kind of takes away some of the stress, right?"

Nico nodded quickly. "Yeah! Let's be optimistic about it!"

A car pulled up, and they both got to their feet. "Guess that's our cue." Maki said, stretching as if they'd been sitting for a while. "Let's have fun tonight, okay?"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Nico replied, grabbing for her hand and quickly pulling her towards the car.

"Oh, Nico, so _bold_!" Rin teased, after opening the door for them. Maki sank into the seat next to Hanayo, who looked equally embarrassed. Poor girl.

' _Good luck.'_

"You too."

Absently, she had to wonder what exactly would constitute 'luck' when they got to the karaoke place.

* * *

 **AN: I abused the hell out of the line breaks in this chapter tbh but oh well? I wanted to include both sides of the 'getting 'gently persuaded' into going on the double date' thing so I was left with no choice. Also: Tsubasa is shady? I love her but stop wandering around at 2 am it's weirding people out. Honkers was only awake because she and Yukiho went out to the forest to fill their sin quota or whatever idk. Speaking of Honk, yes she absolutely did take her contacts out specifically to mess with Maki lmao**

 **This chapter came really fast after the last one but that's mostly because I had everything up until the diner scene already written, I just had to cut it to make the last chapter the right length. Hence, 3 day update. Not bad, huh? I hope it's a nifty little surprise, but even if it's not, hey, an update, right? Haha. Anyways, if the next few chapters go as planned, there should be 2 more chapters until the wedding.**

 **Glad that most of you seemed to enjoy the last chapter, which I'm hoping this was a nice continuation of, and thanks for reading! I'll see you soon, hopefully. Happy new years!**


	12. Chapter 12

The karaoke bar was a lot like a normal bar, in the sense that it was active at night. However, unlike a normal bar, or a club, rather than having a sports game or some rave music playing, it was actually pretty tame in the 'lobby' area. They had to go up to the front desk and tell the clerk how long they were staying, and then they got their own little room with a table, a karaoke machine and menus.

A pretty sweet system, in Nico's opinion. They followed a waiter to the room in the back, chatting as they went.

"How soon 'till we get on stage?" Rin asked eagerly.

"We just _got_ here," Maki replied with a sigh. "The rest of our group isn't even with us yet. Can't you wait a few minutes?"

"I'm with Rin on this one. We only have three hours for _eight_ of us to sing our fill! Now is our chance!" Nico said insistently, tapping her wrist like she was pointing at a watch. "We have to move now before someone lets Eli get up there and she picks a weird song!"

The redhead seemed unconvinced. Nico huffed and muttered a complaint about how unfair it all was, and Hanayo let out a small laugh before returning to her previous, almost entirely unresponsive state. The werewolf felt kind of bad for her, really – sensory overload that went directly to her thoughts? At least Nico only had to deal with smells, and even then, she could adjust after about five minutes. Thoughts were constantly changing; smells stayed more or less the same, barring extreme circumstances.

Hanayo shot her a grateful look. ' _It's actually not too bad. Most of these people aren't thinking straight, so it's sort of like static, that I'm picking up on. I think that guy over there thinks Rin is cute, though…..ooooohh…I didn't need to hear that….'_ She sulked a little, shoulders slumping.

Nico tapped Rin on the shoulder and pointed to the guy. "Make a face. Like, a really disgusted one."

"Eh? But why? Rin doesn't see anything super gro-"

"If you do it, I'll let you go before me when we do karaoke." She said, tempting the younger girl.

Rin looked at the guy and gagged like she'd just seen roadkill.

Hanayo brightened up a little.

Nico grinned and picked up the pace so she'd be walking next to Maki again, but it wasn't much of a walk. Just as she caught up, they reached their booth – it was a big one, since they'd told the clerk that 4 more were coming.

She was the first to get to the table, bouncing her leg impatiently as she took a seat. Rin was just behind her, literally jumping into her place, which was apparently next to Nico – they'd probably shuffle around a bit when the second half of their group got there, though. Maki slid in next, followed by a very jumpy Hanayo. They both sat across from Nico and Rin, respectively.

"So, when do you think the rest of our group is going to get here?" Maki asked, flipping through the menu. "I don't want to do anything without them, since it was Nozomi and Eli's idea in the first place, and Honoka was really excited about it, too."

The oldest of the group shrugged. "Knowing Nozomi, they'll probably show up at the most or least convenient time. Knowing Eli, that time will have to be pretty close to the time we agreed to meet up, so….."Nico tilted her head a little, hearing the front door slam shut – almost like someone was overexcited. "Ten bucks says that's them right now."

"You're on." Maki said quickly.

There was a brief pause, and the redhead groaned when she realized their booth's door was cracking open.

"Hey guys! We're here! We aren't late, are we?"

Nico grinned. "That's Honoka. Looks like you owe me, Maki."

Maki grumbled something under her breath in response, irritated. Someone else spoke up. "Wow, fighting already? I don't know how this bodes for the rest of the evening."

She looked up, puzzled. That didn't sound like anyone she knew…she blinked upon realizing it was that girl from the other night. Maki looked similarly surprised to see her. "Wait, you're…."

"Tsubasa." She said curtly. "I think we met at the fair, didn't we? My friend caught your pet while it was misbehaving. Maki, right?"

"Yeah…." the redhead looked puzzled.

Honoka was still excited, and, while Nico and Maki had been too distracted to respond to her greeting, Rin wasn't. She crawled over the table and latched onto the other orange haired girl like an oversized koala. "Honoka! You're here!"

She laughed and bounced the other girl around a bit. "We're gonna have so much _fuuuuuun_!"

"At this rate there won't be any fun for us when we get in there," Nozomi said teasingly, drawing attention to herself and Eli. They were standing by the aisle, and Eli looked embarrassed about something. Nico noted that that must mean they were either holding hands or Nozomi had been teasing her only moments prior. "Have you all met Tsubasa?"

"Nooooope!" Rin replied chirpily. "I'm Rin! She stuck a hand out, and the brunette took it.

"Tsubasa. Nice to meet you!" Rin pushed Hanayo forward and they exchanged the same greeting, but Hanayo looked a little puzzled. She kept glancing between Honoka and Tsubasa. Nico didn't blame her – she was wondering how on earth they got together too.

Nico blinked when she realized people were looking at her. She noticed Tsubasa was holding out a hand. "We've met before, but, just to make it more official…." She trailed off.

She nodded. "Oh, right! Like I said, I'm Nico, and I'm also-" Abruptly, she felt a searing pain on her hand. Mother. Fucker. She continued her greeting in a low tone, lest she have to give it through clenched teeth. "Really….happy….to meet you." When they finally released the handshake, she moved over to Maki's side, half-hiding behind her so she could bite her lip and cringe without anyone seeing.

' _Silver ring?_ 'Hanayo asked, tentatively. ' _Nozomi says she noticed you flinch; so expect her to come over and ask if you're alright. Maki is also curious_ _._ '

Nico gave her a curt nod, afraid she'd give her response out loud if she tried to give a lengthier one. Maki was looking at her curiously like Hanayo had mentioned; she'd have to explain later. Honoka and Rin had begun a very animated conversation about who was going to sing the coolest song when they decided to start taking turns doing karaoke, and Tsubasa was making idle conversation with Nozomi, who would nod occasionally.

Aside from that, though, everyone seemed to be settling into the booth. Nico found herself wedged between Maki and Eli. Eli gave her a small smile. "Hey." She greeted.

"Hi."

Things had just started to settle down, so naturally, Honoka and Rin took it upon themselves to stop that from happening. "So, when do we get _started_ , anyways? Do we have to ask somebody, or….." Honoka looked vexed.

Nico crossed her arms. "Honestly, wasn't this your idea in the first place? All you have to do is pick a song from the book," She gestured to the book in question, "Punch the number it has next to it in there," She pointed to the remote, "And then the noise starts, and you go sing up _there_." Last but not least, she pointed to the front of the room, where a microphone and a screen were waiting.

The orange-haired girl seemed just slightly confused. "Okay, well, since you're an expert, why don't you go first?"

She scoffed. "Are you kidding? I'm not a _warm_ _up_ , of course someone has to go before me."

"I have no idea what you mean, but I'll take that as my cue!" Honoka replied, pounding the table twice. "Prepare to be chosen, song!" She flipped through the book quickly at first, but soon lost speed. "…..urrrrghhhh…..that's a lot of reading…."

Hanayo snorted, obviously listening to someone's reaction, and the more polite of the group just covered their laughter with a hand. Rin, for her part, seemed pretty sympathetic to Honoka. "It's like a phone book," She marveled. "I thought only dictionaries got this long!"

"Oh for fuck's – give me that." Nico snatched the book away and quickly located a recent pop song. "Here. Your song is Love Marginal, the solo version. Knock yourself out."

She grinned and quickly began putting in the code.

"It's kind of weird, though," Maki said idly, looking over at Nico. "I thought you would have wanted to go as soon as possible so you could brag about it?"

"Like I said, I'll go after a few others. I am going to be the main event, after all!"

Maki sighed deeply. "Aaaand there's the bragging. I knew it would come."

She decided to just play it off as if that was a compliment, shuffling closer to the redhead in their seats. "Come on, I know you like it….."

"Get off my lap or I'm kicking you out of the booth." Maki said flatly. She hastily obeyed.

Rin was, as ever, _highly_ amused. "You just got _rejected_!" She all but cheered. "It's okay, Nico! I know you're just nervous about getting up there! It was a panic flirt!"

Now Nozomi was paying attention. "My _my,_ Nicocchi, I didn't think _you_ of all people would have _stage fright_."

"It's not stage fright! Where the hell did you get that idea?!" She protested. "This is like, a coup, or something! All I did was say that I'm too good to go up first!"

"Wait, are you saying you don't think Honoka is good?" Hanayo asked, a curious expression on her face. She brought a hand to her chin and pondered. "That's not very nice at all."

She gaped. "Even Hanayo is against me?! This _is_ a coup! Eli, help me!" The blonde in question made herself even busier looking through the menu, trying not to even acknowledge Nico's request for help. "You traitor….." Nico grumbled.

"Sorry, Nico, but you kind of walked right into that one…." She mumbled finally, face still deep in the menu.

Nico groaned and lay her head down on the table just as Honoka got started singing. She noted that the orange haired girl took literally every single possible opportunity in the song to wink over at Tsubasa, and that dork actually winked back. Hard to believe she was intimidating earlier…..must've just been the scare from the whole ring thing that had her on edge.

Yeah, that was it.

Even though she'd acted prickly earlier, when Nico started shuffling closer to Maki again she wasn't 'rejected' and they got a chance to have a chat, Honoka still singing in the background. "What was that about earlier? Not the stage fright, the flinching."

"Just some jewelry issues." She replied nonchalantly, as Honoka twirled on the 'stage'. "When are you going up? I want to see what kind of song you pick."

"I'm not going to be singing." Maki said, leaning back a little in the seat. Nico immediately sat up, alarmed.

"Why not?! You have an awesome voice!" Nozomi shushed her and Nico nodded bashfully, quieting down a little. "Why not?"

Maki seemed to be trying her best not to accept the compliment, apparently. "Th-that's just your opinion. You've never even heard me sing before. And besides, if my voice is so good, wouldn't you want me to _not_ get on stage so you can be the 'best'?"

Nico gave her a flat look. "Don't try that reverse psychology crap on me. Besides, isn't it natural that the best couple sings the best love song?" Eli and Maki both kicked her in the shins under the table. She sank until her head was in the menu. "Owwwwww….."

"Stop bragging and appreciate Honoka's lovely performance, Nico." Eli requested 'politely'.

She glowered, but kept quiet. Still, something was eating at her; and it had to do with Maki. She'd never heard her sing, but she felt like she definitely _had_. Maybe, something to do with those nights…? Nico shut her eyes tightly, but the only sound that came to mind was a piano, not a voice.

Might as well just try her luck with the real deal again, then. "I'm sure your voice is great, why don't you get up and sing something? Honoka is just about to finish."

Maki grimaced. "I don't like anything in the song selection, okay? It's all pop and garbage. There, I said it."

"Maki! That's not in the karaoke spirit!" Rin accused, pointing dramatically at the other redhead.

"What _'karaoke spirit_ '?!" She retorted, disbelieving. "That's not even a thing!"

"Not with that attitude it's not! Look at Honoka go! She knows what she's doing!"

No sooner had Rin said that than did the song finish, and Honoka, in celebration, spiked the ground with the microphone. The feedback sent everyone reeling. "Sorry sorry sorry sorry-"

It died off and, eventually, Tsubasa raised a hand, like she was asking permission to break the silence. "I propose we get our food now. I think a few drinks and a visit from tech support are in order."

Everyone mumbled their agreement at that, eyeing the damaged microphone with varying levels of embarrassment.

* * *

Maki was playing with her hair a bit absentmindedly as the group chatted and ate. Rin and Honoka, who had been hogging the machine ever since the waiter came in to make sure the microphone wasn't broken, just finished up their third round of Mermaid Festiva – she thought it was the second one –and now Nozomi and Eli were getting up to perform a love song.

Like Tsubasa had suggested, the girls who were old enough had a little to drink, and Maki was learning quickly that Nico had a harder time holding it than, say, Nozomi. Also, most of the other couples had taken to getting a bit more flirty. Hanayo actually managed to faint at _something_ she overheard, and Maki was willing to bet it was from Nozomi, because she and Eli were looking at each other in a way that she assumed must mean that, if there weren't people around, they'd be on the tabletop.

She lurched a little at the thought. Now she kind of wanted to faint.

Hanayo shot her a dour look, appearing every bit as mortified as her. The redhead tried to pretend that wasn't her fault and turned her attention to Honoka and Tsubasa.

While evidently less shameless, they certainly were a lot more romantic than herself and Nico.

As soon as she'd come down from the stage, Honoka gave her date a _criminally_ cute kiss on the nose, and Tsubasa responded in turn by offering the redhead a sip of her drink and then allowing her to sit on her lap.

Maki turned her attention to Nico, who was furiously scribbling out combinations for songs she was interested in on a napkin with a pen she took from the waiter.

"Why do I have to be dating the _least_ romantic person at the table….?" She sighed, leaning back idly in the few seconds it took her to register that she'd said that out loud. Oh. Shit. Now _she_ was the least romantic person at the table, wasn't she?

Nico gave her a scandalized look. Maki flinched. "Hey, it's not my fault I'm dating the biggest _prude_ at the table! Last time I tried being affectionate I was worried you were going to self-immolate! You were like, _this close_ to actually setting yourself on fire just from embarrassment." She retorted angrily.

She sulked. "Yeah, but that's because I've never dated before. If you're so experienced, then shouldn't you not be embarrassed when _I_ give affection? All you do is laugh at me when I try it!"

Mid song, Nozomi stopped and snorted, trying to hold back her laughter. Eli kept going, but slowly got quieter as she realized her accompaniment was gone. Maki shot Nozomi a weird look. "What's so funny?"

"Nicocchi isn't ' _experienced'_ ," She said, putting airquotes around the word. "You're her first girlfriend, too!"

Slowly, everyone in the room turned to look at Nico. Rin and Hanayo looked confused. Honoka and Tsubasa both looked ready to burst out laughing. The music was still playing in the background, unaccompanied.

Nico, to quote her own words not five minutes ago, looked ready to self-immolate. "I-it's not _weird_ ," She sputtered. "Plenty of people don't date until later on! I only just turned twenty one!" She said defensively, crossing her arms.

Maki fought off a grin. She was inexperienced too. _Nico was inexperienced too._

Suck it, insecurity!

In that case, she supposed she could make the first move just this once…. She patted Nico on the back, intending to say something romantic or nice to alleviate any embarrassment the older girl was feeling. Maybe tease her just a little.

"Yeah, but I guess if you look like a grade schooler it's harder to get a date, so I can't really blame you."

Fuck.

That was not light teasing. She cringed even as she said it, and Rin actually reached over the table to pat her on the arm sympathetically. "You're terrible at this." She said bluntly.

"Sounds about right." She mumbled, quickly occupying herself with her food. Maybe if she just kept eating for the rest of the night nobody would talk to her. It'd be a lot of food and she was already getting a little full but it might be worth it if they could pretend this never happened –

Nico tapped her shoulder. Maki made a nervous sounding noise and shoved some more noodles into her mouth, gesturing to that with a pretend 'apologetic' look. "I think she means to say she can't talk because her mouth is full," Eli said for her, nudging Nozomi as she did so. "Right?" Her fiancée nodded.

"I can wait." Nico said flatly.

Maki ate faster. Alas, her excuse was short lived. The song that Eli and Nozomi had quit on finished, and she kept going. Eventually she ran out of food, though, and swallowed nervously, facing her girlfriend. "….sorry?" She tried, awkwardly.

"Let's sing a song together." She said finally.

"Huh?" That….wasn't what she expected.

Nico grinned and did a hair flip with one of her twin tails. "Well, it _is_ the least you can do for me after being so _rude_ earlier, right, babe?" Oh my god she was being blackmailed.

She let out a last, long sigh. "Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine….."

As she got up, she braced herself for some pop song she didn't know coming on and then the embarrassment of the century as she failed utterly to get any of the words on time, and then everyone would laugh at her and she'd have to hope they'd get so drunk they'd forget it later and – wait, shit, the song already started.

Maki struggled a little to keep up with Nico, considering she didn't know the song herself, but most of it was pretty easy once she had the beat, because there was a screen with lyrics.

' _Pop songs are all the same….if I hear the chorus once, I'm set for the rest of the song…..'_ She thought, nearly letting out a sigh of relief.

Naturally, the beat changed. Maki panicked and nearly dropped her mic, but Nico kept going.

By her third screw-up, Maki quit, merely standing on the stage and humming awkwardly in accordance with what Nico was singing. "That was a disaster," She groaned as soon as the song finished. Nico shot her a shit-eating grin.

"For you, maybe. I personally wish I had a recording of that _stirring_ performance."

"Oh, I've got you covered, Nicocchi." Nozomi replied, holding up her cell phone.

Well, at least if she moved out of the country she had the excuse of medical school, maybe she could even do it without making a complete and utter fool of herself at the terminal –

"Maki, are you okay?!" Rin said, quickly pulling her to the table. She sat stock-still while the other girl fussed over her. "I think you broke her, Nico!"

The older girl crossed her arms. "Payback is a bitch."

"It's also extremely unromantic," Eli countered. "You're worse than she is, now." She pointed out.

Nico shrugged and dropped the huge book of songs in front of Maki. "Eh. I know she likes it, right, Maki?"

"You're terrible." She said flatly.

"See? I have her totally whipped." Nico said, as if Maki had agreed with her. She then tapped the cover of the songbook. "Pick a song you know so that we can all _actually_ hear your nice voice!"

She flushed. "What makes you so sure my voice is good, anyways? What if I'm awful at it?"

"She says she's heard it before." Hanayo interrupted quickly, then looked away, bashful. "Your voice, I mean. I-ah, that's what Nico told me, earlier. That you have a nice voice because she likes the way-" Rin quickly shushed the brunette. Maki shot Nico a look. Nico pretended not see and struck up a conversation with Tsubasa and Honoka (both of whom had more or less been ignoring the entire fiasco and were very confused when Nico popped out of nowhere and started rambling about who knows what).

Maki huffed and started flipping through the book, but it took a while. In the meantime, Nozomi and Eli tried their song again, Nico performed something upwards of nine songs in a row, Tsubasa sang a round or two - and, much like Honoka, took every possible opportunity to flirt using the lyrics - and Hanayo got up and stammered out a surprisingly really good rendition of _Wannabe_ , although Maki had no idea why on earth Hanayo would pick a song like that. Must have been Rin's idea, she concluded after a few minutes of pondering and no answers.

Her own situation was much more depressing. Page after page, she knew _nothing_ in the song book.

Until….. "Hey, Nico, I found a song I know."

"Oh! Let me see, let me see! What kind of cool song did you-" She actually stopped mid-sentence. "Maki, this is…..this is the theme song for a kids show."

"It's the only thing in here that I know all of!" Maki shot back, defensively.

Nico was unimpressed. "Keep looking."

Maki groaned and did as she was told.

Several drinks and even _more_ songs later, Nico was half asleep on the table, and Honoka was drawing on her arms with a blue pen. Nozomi was sleeping peacefully a few feet away, and Eli, who'd drank just a little bit less than Nico, was holding an animated conversation with her sleeping wife-to-be. Only half of it was comprehensible for her – she assumed the parts that didn't make sense were just in Russian. Tsubasa was, much like Nozomi, dozing off, but not completely asleep yet. Every now and again her head would start lowering and she'd jerk upwards abruptly as she realized she was falling asleep. Rin and Hanayo were sleeping.

And she was still flipping through this _damn_ book. "Nico, seriously, we only have about a half an hour left in here! Everyone is half asleep or already there! Just let me skip out on singing a song, honestly."

"…huh? No, no, you gotta…you gotta….uh…." She shook her head, like she was trying to wake herself up more. "Listen, you need to….sing. You gotta."

"Ugh. This is so stupid." She punched in the number for the song she'd seen earlier. "Look, I already picked it, are we good now?" Maki didn't get up. There was no point.

At least Nico looked pleased. "Yes! I'm ready!"

Good, because this was _never_ happening again. Ugh. Of all things, of course the only song she knew was _this_. "….I wanna be, the very best…. Like no one ever wa-"

" _MAKI_! ! ! What the hell?!" Good. She was interrupted. Maki turned to face Nico as if she didn't know what she did wrong. The sleeping girls all woke up with a start, and even Eli stopped talking for a moment and wondered aloud when the music had started.

"…..What is it, Nico?" She asked cautiously.

Nico glowered. "I said to pick an actual song, you dumbass!"

"And _I_ said this was the only one I knew! I've been through that whole stupid fucking book at _least_ four times, and this is really it!"

"You have _no_ appreciation for good music." She said irritably.

Maki rolled her eyes. "Says the one that's tone deaf."

Things kind of went to shit from there, but at least they were interrupted within ten minutes. The waiter came in and announced that their time was up, and everyone shuffled out of the room. Maki didn't envy whoever had to clean up the mess from when Honoka and Rin tried to make 'snow' out of napkins for one of the songs they were doing.

"Thank you for inviting us to this." She said politely when they left the building, facing Nozomi.

She nodded. "Thank you for coming along. I know we kind of forced you into it, heheh."

"It's okay, I had fun." For the most part, anyways. She exchanged a similar goodbye with Eli, then got ambushed by Honoka.

The orange-haired girl grinned and slung an arm around Maki's shoulder. "Hey! I had loads of fun tonight! We should do it again sometime, okay? Brush up on those pop songs!"

Maki looked away, feeling embarrassed. "Really? I feel like I didn't do much but make things awkward. Next time you should just have Nico come…"

Honoka rolled her eyes. "Nah, I'm sure you can be fun too! You were funny tonight, so don't sell yourself short!"

"Right….." She agreed, finally. "It was nice seeing you again. I had fun tonight." Honoka waved her goodbyes, pulling Tsubasa along with her. She waved goodbye as well, seeming preoccupied for just a second before Honoka caught her attention again.

Once it seemed everyone was out of earshot, she sighed. "Glad that's over….."

"Did you not have a good time?" She jumped at the sudden question, but quickly righted herself, giving Nico an apologetic look.

"No, no, I had a great time, I'm just not good in a crowd. You had fun, right?"

Nico tipped her head as if to think about it, then pouted. "I never got to hear you sing." Maki shrugged in a what-can-you-do sort of way, and Nico berated her for it all the way to the car where Hanayo and Rin were waiting to drive them home.

"-so I really think you should at least _tell_ me why you're so resistant to the idea of-" Nico was still going strong even as they neared her house, so Maki was forced to interrupt her halfway through, placing a hand on hers.

"Nico."

She sat up a little straighter. "Yes, Maki?"

"I'll do it later. Let Rin sleep." Maki sighed, gesturing to the front where Rin was shifting on the front seat.

The black haired girl nodded. "I'm gonna hold you to that, you know."

"Of course you are." Having resigned herself to that much at least, the car ride back was peaceful. But, truthfully... "This date went a lot better than I expected it would." The two other awake members of the car quickly nodded their agreement.

* * *

 **AN: This took an absolutely _ridiculous_ amount of time to get up, especially for a chapter that I don't have a lot of confidence in, I know. Thank you for being very patient with me. Now's not really the time for excuses, but I did have a particularly nasty case of writer's block that, with any luck, won't come back within the span of this story...which is getting smaller and smaller. If I do things as planned, there shouldn't be more than four, maybe five chapters left after this one, so to anyone who's getting antsy for an ending...we're almost there! I'm excited and also really nervous, haha. **

**Putting that all aside for a little while, though...uh, karaoke bars are a thing. Like, everybody knows that, but I've never been to one, so this was...fun. I worry about how well I include everyone in group scenes like the majority of this chapter, but hopefully this wasn't _too_ bad. Next chapter I'm pulling things back into my two or three character comfort zone so it's probably going to be a bit less awkward lmao. Hey, at least this chapter included Tsubasa _not_ being a complete weirdo, right? Mostly, anyways. **

**Haha, but, really, thank you guys a bunch for waiting for me on this one! I promise I'll try not to let a big wait like this happen again. Until next time, thanks for reading and see you soon, hopefully!**


	13. Chapter 13

"Nico, I'm going out. Watch the kids for me, okay?" Stopped by the front door, Nico's mother turned the keys around idly in her hands, waiting for a response. Nico rolled over a little on the couch, not bothering even to lift her head.

"Mmmmm….okay." She said, followed by a yawn. "Have a good day, mama."

Her mother nodded, opening the door. "I will. Oh, and don't forget, your _girlfriend_ is coming over today!" She said in a singsong voice. "Make sure everything is presentable, hmm?"

Nico threw a pillow at the door. "I don't wanna clean! Let me sleep! Let me sleep!" She chanted, although unfortunately the news had woken her up somewhat. Her mom chuckled and closed the door, leaving her to deal with it on her own. "Urgh….." She moved to pick up the pillow she'd thrown, setting it back in place just as one of her younger sisters wandered in.

"Did mama just leave?" Cocoa asked, peering around the corner at the front door.

"Yup. You _just_ missed her." Nico replied, still trying to fix the pillow. If she could just center it right…ugh, shit, who cared? It was Maki, not a home inspection. She gave up on the pillow.

Cocoa huffed. "I wanted to wake up on time today! I even set an alarm!"

"Yeah, I know." She replied, deadpan. "You slept through it and it woke _me_ up instead. Why'd you have to go and set it for five thirty? Mama isn't even up at that time!"

"Oh." Her sister replied. She lingered for a moment. "Sorry?"

Nico sighed and waved it off. "It's fine. I took a nap on the couch anyways. Are Cocoro and Cotarou up yet?"

She shook her head. "No, they're still sleeping!" She said cheerfully. "What's for breakfast?"

"Cereal. We have to go to the grocery store later, we don't have enough food to make anything good."

Cocoa groaned. "Boooooooooo. I was hoping for pancakes."

The older sister shrugged. "Sorry. Maybe next time, okay?" Cocoa stuck her tongue out. "That's rude." The younger girl sniffed, apparently determined to be grouchy. Nico rolled her eyes and moved to sit back down on the couch and try to continue her nap while Cocoa shuffled into the kitchen and started preparing her cereal.

A while later – she wasn't sure when, but it probably wasn't long – she woke up again because someone was crawling around on top of her. She gave her younger brother a disapproving look. "Cotarou, I was sleeping. Don't be rude."

"I'm hungry." He said, poking her accusingly.

"So? Have Cocoro help you with your cereal," She whined. "You didn't have to wake _me_ up for that!"

He leaned back until he was sitting up straight, and huffed as loud as he could, arms crossed. "I'm bored."

Geez, what was wrong with her siblings today? Nico grunted and sat up. "We're having Maki over for lunch later today. If you can hold out for three more hours you can bother her all you want!"

Cotatou blinked. Took a moment to think about it. Then he pouted again. "I'm bored _now_." He said, insistently.

"He's been grumpy all morning," Cocoro sighed, coming in from her own room. "I think Cocoa's alarm woke him up, too."

"I already said I was sorry!" Cocoa whined. She was in the kitchen still, doing who-knows-what. Nico resigned herself to being awake. Did that alarm really wake up everyone _but_ Cocoa?

Cocoro crossed her arms. "It's still a little late for that," She sniffed. "All we're doing today is wandering around waiting for company to come over; we could have slept in a lot longer if you hadn't woken us up. I don't blame him for being bored."

"Fine!" the youngest girl said, stomping her foot. "How do we make him _un_ -bored?!"

"That's not a thing, Cocoa." The older of the two sighed. Then she turned to face Nico. "….how do we make him _less_ bored…?"

"…why is this always something _I_ have to fix?" Even saying that, though, she ran a hand through her hair and tried to find a good idea. "How abooouut…..board games?"

"Boring." Her brother replied, still pouting.

"Video games? I'll let you play as Kirby." She tempted. Usually nobody was allowed to because Cocoa always had a tantrum over 'cheating' whenever someone knocked her out with the down B attack, but they all seemed pretty desperate, so Nico had no doubt they'd put up with it if it meant Cotarou would stop being a sulking terror around the house.

"Always lose, no fun." He rejected that too.

Nico hummed, looking around for something distracting. There were other uses for the TV. "Anything on TV?"

"No."

"Coloring!" She suggested quickly, running out of ideas by this point. Cocoro seemed excited, but unfortunately that suggestion, as all the previous ones had, was also shot down.

"Nuh-uh."

Now Cocoro made an attempt. "Do you think you'd want to play with your hammer?"

Cotarou considered it. "Babyish."

Nico groaned. Cocoa stepped up to the plate. "Let's make cookies together! You can eat the batter, Cotarou." Surprisingly, this one hit home.

"I can….eat the batter?" He said, apparently warming up to the idea.

The oldest sibling moved to get ready to do it, but – "Oh, damn, we still don't have the ingredients…" She cursed. Cotarou scowled.

God damn it.

Her younger sisters seemed similarly upset. "Why'd you have to go and tell him that? Now he's even more upset!"

"You said a bad word….." Cocoro said, crossing her arms.

Nico raised hers in mock surrender. "Sorry! Sorry! But it's better than getting all the supplies out and _then_ realizing that we can't do it, right?"

"Yeah, but we still can't think of anything for him to do! If I have to spend another minute with him glaring like that I'm gonna go _crazy_!" Her youngest sister whined, throwing herself against Nico's leg and shaking her. "You have to do something!"

She turned to face her little brother again. "Okay. If _none_ of that sounds fun to you, then what _will_ make you happy?"

Cotarou thought hard about it, and she could practically see all of the little gears turning in his head while he looked down. Eventually, though, he came to a conclusion. "Woof."

"Woof? What is that supposed to…..mean."

Nico shifted on her feet as three very expectant eyes turned to her, all suddenly glimmering with excitement.

Well, this couldn't go poorly at _all_.

* * *

At a quarter to noon, Maki left for Nico's house. While her girlfriend had insisted on calling it a lunch date, Maki really doubted they'd be doing any date stuff; they were only a week away from Nozomi and Eli's wedding and despite her own consistent nagging, every time she asked Nico what kind of gift they should get the couple, she got blown off.

Well not this time.

Determined not to do things last minute, Maki was going to spring on Nico with a calendar and a notebook full of ideas as soon as they sat down. If _that_ failed, then she'd be forced to hold the only other bargaining chip she had over the shorter girl.

The S word.

…singing.

That settled within her own mind, the redhead walked to the door with confidence, giving three sharp knocks and waiting for Nico to answer the door. It took a moment. Then another. Eventually, around two minutes passed.

Maybe she was in the bathroom…..? Slightly confused, but not disheartened, she played with her hair.

The lock clicked. Maki perked up and straightened out her jacket one last time. When the door creaked open, it wasn't Nico, but one of her younger sisters who opened it. She looked surprised when she realized it was Maki. "Oh! You're here earlier than I thought!"

"Cocoro? Where's your older sist –"

"HEY! Get back here!"

Her question was quickly forgotten as it took all of 2.5 seconds after that shout for her to find herself more or less bowled over by something.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what 'something' was. Maki grimaced and pushed Nico off of her, not wanting to stay out on the doorstep any longer than they had to. Nico eagerly followed her into the house while Maki sulked. "Even when I try to get the jump on you, you weasel out of it….." She grumbled.

In response, Nico pushed her side against Maki until she almost fell over again. "No! I am not rewarding you for this! Stop it!" She set her things down on the kitchen table, but even with her hands free, made no attempt to give the werewolf any attention.

Nico continued to try and receive pats despite this, and Maki eventually made her way into the living room where…. _something_ was going on. Hell if she knew what it was, though. The youngest kid, the boy, was on the table with a tennis ball, which he seemed to be contemplating throwing at Maki, the younger girl had a bunch of (now very, very trampled) flowers and the eldest didn't look like she had anything, but later set a laser pointer down on the table.

Maki felt a bead of sweat forming on her forehead; was this seriously what Nico did with her free time?

She started to seriously worry about the possibility that she was actually just dating a dog.

"What the he-" She caught herself, "Heck, did I just walk in on?" Maki liked to think that, slowly but surely, she was getting better with children. The trick was just to not swear but otherwise treat them exactly the same as adults instead of doing the baby voice, because it was much, much less embarrassing. It worked most of the time. Sort of.

The middle kid sucked in a deep breath, and then let the entire explanation out in one, rapid sentence. "OkaysobasicallyCotarouwasgrumpyandwedidn'tknowwhattodoandhesaidhewantedtoplaywithNicolikethiscausewearen'tallowedtohavedogsbutit'snotliketheycanbanoldersisterssowekindasortamadeherdoitandweforgotyouwerecomingoverandnowi'mexplainingitoyouso-"

"Cocoa, _breathe_!" The older sister interrupted. The girl in questions sucked in a huge breath of air. Cocoro sighed. "We forgot you were coming over today and convinced our older sister to do this." She summarized, and Maki nodded in understanding, glad that at least _one_ of the kids was capable of making sense.

Meanwhile, Nico was still vying for her attention, and, when she came to the conclusion that her current methods weren't working, attempted to knock Maki over a second time. "Stop that!"

Nico whined. Maki caved and started rubbing her head a little. "You still need to change back so we can talk about what we're going to do at your friends' wedding."

Suddenly, the werewolf apparently wanted a lot less attention. She pulled back from Maki's hands and started sniffing the floor around the couch as if there was something infinitely more interesting there.

"Oh my _god_ , you are such a baby!" Maki complained dragging a hand through her hair. "Fine, but how are you going to make lunch if you don't have thumbs? You have to change back at _some_ point, right?!"

Nico looked away with a guilty expression and wandered over towards the couch, hopping up onto it and giving her a reproachful look from over the top cushion. Looking for some sort of help, Maki turned to the younger siblings. All of them gave some variant of a shrug. Cotarou dropped the ball on the floor.

Nothing happened.

That was disappointing. Maki huffed and reached for the ball and, when that elicited no response either, threw it at Nico. She snapped it out of the air before dropping it like it was a hot coal. Nico then proceeded to curl up on the couch and ignore her.

"Well, there goes that plan." She said idly. "What now?"

The younger of the two sisters snapped her fingers. "Maybe if we _reeeeeeeeeaaaaallly_ annoy her, she'll turn back and yell at us!"

From the couch, Nico yelped.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Maki said. Really, this way she would be killing two birds with one stone. She had a chance to annoy Nico in a more or less nonconsequential way (always a bonus) _and_ this would most likely get her to turn back so that they could, _finally_ , discuss the wedding gifts and what they would be wearing and such. "What do you suggest we do first?"

Cocoa hummed. "She hates it when you play with her ears. And her tail, but that's actually mean so let's not pull on it, 'kay?"

"Seems simple enough." She concluded. They all wandered over to the couch, while Nico looked on with distrust. Maki tried to pick a place to start but….

She looked…

So….

"Soft…." She mumbled, reaching to pull the werewolf into a bear hug.

"Maki! What are you doing?! You can't go back on the plan now!" Cocoro berated. Even Nico looked vaguely offended that she couldn't end up going through with it after all.

Whatever.

She all but pulled Nico off the couch in her attempt to cuddle. Nico seemed torn between enjoying it and acting aloof, feelings denoted by the way she'd act excited in one moment and then abruptly freeze the next, only to start again.

Tails were extremely convenient.

Eventually the werewolf seemed to have made up her mind to being embarrassed though, because she squirmed and kicked her way out of Maki's grip and trotted into a bedroom, even shutting the door behind herself.

"Well, I guess that _does_ sorta count as annoying her." The younger sister mused, only to be elbowed by the older one. Cotarou, as he often did, looked confused.

Nico came back out in a solid minute, blushing furiously and insisting that Maki cut it out, or, in her exact words, "Sit down and don't manhandle me like that again, got it?!"

Tch. Manhandling? "If that was manhandling, what is it called when you drag me around in public all the time?" Maki asked, arms crossed.

"It's called being the cute girlfriend." Nico sniffed. Then she cracked an eye open. "And didn't I tell you to sit down?"

Maki rolled her eyes but followed the instructions and took a seat right by where she'd left out her notebook. Oh, right, she'd wanted to be productive today. Silly her.

At least Nico was settling down again. After about five minutes, she'd managed to shoo her siblings out of the room and back into theirs, and set out some coffee on the table. She sat down across from Maki and took a long sip of hers.

Maki left her own untouched. "Isn't coffee more of a morning thing? I thought people had tea at lunch?"

"Tea is for the weak," Nico said flippantly, tossing her hair. "Besides, it's tough on me, keeping up my energy like this! If you're going to be the aloof one, that means I have to be hyperactive to counter it!"

Her brow twitched. "…What makes you say that….?"

Nico shrugged. "It's our…I don't know, call it 'couple chemistry'. If opposites attract, then obviously, we should in some way be opposites, right? This is the most basic dating tip in the book."

There was a pause while Maki waited for some sort of punchline. None came. "You're absolutely ridiculous," She said, leaning back in her chair with a sigh. "There's how we're opposites." Hadn't they been dating for a month now, anyways? She'd heard the honeymoon phase could last for a year, if not longer, so why did she feel like they skipped it completely and went straight to 'old married couple' status?

"Whatever! Just let me drink my coffee in the middle of the day! _God_ , Maki, you're so pretentious!"

"Okay." She said simply. "I've given up on correcting your diet, anyways."

"Correcting? What's that supposed to-"

" _Anyways_ ," Maki interrupted, tapping the calendar and pushing it towards Nico. "As you can see, we're about a week away from your friends' wedding. We need. A plan."

Nico rolled her eyes at the papers. "You make it sound like it's some sort of business meeting! Chill out, it's just a wedding, Maki. We don't need a plan!"

"Yes we do," She argued insistently. "I don't want to get them some last minute gift, or be late because it took me an hour to figure out what kind of formal wear I should use. This is really important!"

Nico took another sip of her coffee, looking away while she thought about it. "…I guess you do have a point." She admitted. "I thought you were going to like, plan out every step we took, so I was avoiding this, haha." She laughed sheepishly.

"I'm not _that_ concerned about it," Maki grumbled, twisting her hair around a finger while she spoke. "I just, figured, you know, since you've known your friends for a lot longer, you'd have a better idea of what to get them….."

The black-haired girl grinned. "Aww, Maki is so cute when she's embarrassed!" She cooed.

"I literally saw you playing with a tennis ball fifteen minutes ago. You can never tease me again." Maki retorted bluntly. Surprisingly, it did nothing to deter Nico, who continued to coo and make reaches across the table to do something - probably something embarrassing, but Maki didn't plan on finding out what it was, so she just kept swatting the other girl's hands away. "Stop it and help me pick a gift!"

"There's a registry, you know. It's literally as simple as picking something to get them off of that." Once she was done trying to harass her girlfriend, Nico settled back into her seat and delivered that news.

Maki tipped her head to one side. "What's a registry?"

Nico fished her phone out of her pocket and pulled up something. "You know, those lists people make for what they want to get at their weddings? Usually it's kitchenware or furniture or whatever, but since Eli and Nozomi already live together, it's probably a little different."

"Couldn't they just call it a wishlist…?" She asked skeptically. "Registry makes it sound so official and boring."

"Hey, it's not like I made up the term," Nico said, downing the last of her coffee, which reminded Maki that she had some and caused her to take a sip of it as well. "Anyways, let's just look at the list! I'm sure there's something on here we can get them. I'll read it out for you."

Maki shrugged. It seemed a bit childish, but it was a small phone, so it'd probably be easier than reading it over her shoulder. Nico cleared her throat. "Paintings. New mugs." Nico winced a bit at that one, something Maki would want her to elaborate on later – "Picture frames. Pictures of….the attendants?"

"What?" Maki asked, raising an eyebrow.

Nico sighed. "That one was definitely Nozomi. Let's just keep reading. They are also looking for…..jewelry – you'll have to do that one without me if it's what we decide on – _more_ pictures, a video recorder, nightlights, aaaaand…..I don't think either of us want to go shopping for 'something to spice up our night life' so I'm going to cut it off there." She concluded. "I will note that Eli texted me and said she tried to get the last thing taken off the list no less than eight times, so I'm sure she won't be very upset if we ignore it as a possibility."

"Good." Maki said, relieved. "So, what are you thinking we should get?"

"New mugs and some jewelry, probably." Nico shrugged. "Eli has some hobby where she makes jewelry so even if you pick something ugly she'll be able to take it apart and make something nicer out of it."

"Hey, why do you assume I'd pick something ugly?" She asked irritably. "I have good taste."

"Really. You. Have good taste." The other girl said flatly. She looked Maki over to add to the sarcasm. Maki huffed and turned away. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding, calm down." She grinned and pulled at Maki's arm from the other side of the table. "You just look cuter when you're grumpy."

Maki looked away pointedly, not so much out of bitterness but just because she didn't want to run the risk of getting embarrassed. "And you're just as terrible with compliments as ever, I see. Aren't we supposed to be eating something by this point?"

"Ugh, do you _only_ come over here for food?" Nico whined.

"Pretty much." She replied without missing a beat.

Nico rolled her eyes. "Wow, talk about harsh realities. Fine, fine, I'll make something, but it's going to take a while. You should at least help out."

"Ah." Maki said, realizing that she'd encountered a problem. "About that…"

* * *

She couldn't believe Maki was _nineteen_ fucking years old and didn't know how to cook _anything_. Nico considered it a personal failing that she'd managed to go over two full months without fixing that.

Well not anymore.

" _We_ are going to make curry and _you_ are going to do no less than _half_ the work, or so help me you are not going to be allowed to leave this house!"

"I've made a mistake." Maki said, running a hand through her hair. "Curry is like soup, right? You just put it in a pot and…" She gestured vaguely as if to stir. "That's pretty much the gist of it, right?"

Nico put her face in her hands. "Tragic. This is tragic. I'm going to start crying."

"You're being way too dramatic about this." The redhead said bluntly. "I said I'd help but you haven't told me anything yet. If I say I don't know how to cook then why are you surprised when I say something wrong? I bet _you_ don't know the first thing about surgery but I'm not going to make fun of you for it."

She rolled her eyes, huffing. "Of course not! That's a trade, this is like, common knowledge! _Everybody_ knows how to cook at least _something_."

"Uuuuughhhh. Just show me how to make the stupid curry already."

* * *

After one unsuccessful batch – which Nico blamed entirely on the fact that Maki wandered off to help Cocoro with her math homework like a fucking nerd while she was supposed to be stirring and let the curry burn – and another, slightly more successful one that she wouldn't have kept if they'd had enough ingredients for a round three, they wound up sitting at the table again.

Maki didn't look like she _loved_ it, but if she hated it she sure wasn't saying as much, which was good enough for her. Her siblings scuttled away with the leftovers into the living room and hadn't really interrupted since then.

"So, how do you feel about cooking?" She asked idly.

"I think I'll stick to cereal and instant noodles for a while." Maki grumbled, keeping her eyes on the food. "It didn't _look_ that hard."

"To be fair, curry really isn't supposed to be hard. You're just a super terrible chef." She pointed out.

"Good point." They both paused to finish it off. "Whatever, at least you can't tell me I'm not allowed to leave." She concluded.

Nico glanced at the door. "I don't know about _that_."

"What?"

She snorted at the genuinely serious reaction. "I'm asking if you want to spend the night; my mom has been dying to meet you."

Maki looked around nervously and started playing with her hair – she was way too easy to read. "O-oh, really, your mom? What's she – um, what is she like..?"

"The best, obviously. " Nico boasted. "How else could she have me as a daughter?" Maki gave her a blank look. Nico added to the statement. "She's really nice, chill out. My mom isn't going to grill you for information or whatever you're thinking about."

The redhead visibly untensed. "Oh, that's good."

Nico nodded. "Yeah, very. Why so nervous, anyways? What are your parents like?" She leaned forward to prop her head up on her hands and wiggled her eyebrows. "When are you going to introduce them to your lovely girlfriend?"

Maki laughed nervously and resumed the hair-twirling. "Umm…..maybe we can talk about that, uh, after we see how it goes with yours."

"Boooo. Lame answer. We can do it, but you're still lame."

"Yeah, whatever."

* * *

 **AN: Spoiler alert it went super well because yazamom is an angel and probably my favorite mom but idk it's a toss up. Anyways! Like half of this chapter was just Nico and her siblings but it's pretty much** ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ **, haha. I wanted to throw in some filler + wedding discussion so this is what happened. Even though they talk about doin stuff like meeting parents, that's basically going to be glossed over, sorry. That was just to show the night ended off on a more or less positive note (aka they bickered about stupid shit and then probably fell asleep and Nico woke up just in time for her siblings to sharpie on Maki's face).Next chapter will be the start of the wedding, to potentially the near end of it, but in any case scenario, there should only be about 3, _maybe_ 4 chapters left. We're really hitting endgame here! I'm excited. **


	14. Chapter 14

"Is this good? This looks good, right?"

From the driver's seat, Nico risked a glance over at Maki, who was fussing with the gift for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day. "Yes, it looks good! Just like the last nine times you asked!"

Maki seemed undeterred by the sarcasm. "I just want to make sure I wrapped it nicely," she said, apparently not getting the point. She tugged at the ribbon a little.

"Don't people usually fuss over their outfits on days like this?" Nico asked, having decided that slamming her face into the steering wheel would ruin her makeup and as such she should avoid it and just keep talking.

The redhead blinked like it had just occurred to her that her outfit mattered at all. Nico felt a wave of regret wash over her. What did she just do? "Oh, shit, you're right, I should go-"

"We're already almost _there_ , Maki." She reminded her in a huff. "And besides, you look super fucking hot in that, if you should worry about anything, it's seducing the brides."

"Thanks, you always know just what to say." Maki said flatly, sarcasm dripping in her voice.

Nico shrugged. "What can I say? I'm just thoughtful like that." They hit a red light and she turned a little. "Really, though, why all the nervousness? It's just our friends and a few of their relatives. You're usually a lot more...I dunno, cool about things?"

"You're right, it's really nothing to be so worried about." She offered the older girl a quick smile. "I guess I just keep forgetting that I'm not going to some sort of business party - I have to go to those now and then and it's a little nerve wracking knowing everything I say reflects on my parents and their work, you know? If it's just our friends there, I should be fine."

"Good, now you can stop flipping turds over the fact that that ribbon isn't completely symmetrical."

"It's not?!" Maki yelped, immediately reaching to fiddle with it again.

Nico laughed. "It is, I just wanted to see you flinch."

Maki gaped for a second, then gave her an irritated stare. "It'd be a shame if I were to give Nozomi some choice pictures of you." She said, tonelessly.

She opened her mouth to make some sort of retort, but then she saw Maki's grin. "Kidding, obviously. You might want to look at the road again, though."

She cursed just as the car behind them honked.

They got to the wedding exactly on time, partially thanks to Maki insisting they leave much earlier than Nico thought they'd have to and partially because they stopped for breakfast halfway there anyways.

At the same time they arrived, Nico noticed two other guests arriving; she was pretty sure she met them on that day Eli had come to her house. Maki followed her on the approach. "Hey, Umi and Kotori, right?"

The brown haired girl nudged the other one, who was focused on something else. "Yes, that's us! You're Nico, right? It's been a while. Isn't this exciting? I'm really looking forward to seeing them in their dresses."

"Really? Have you seen them?" Nico asked curiously.

Kotori giggled, and Umi ended up answering for her. "Kotori made their dresses, so yes, she's quite familiar with them. We've yet to see either of the brides, though, so seeing them fill it out...well, it is something to be excited about."

"We'll be looking forward to it too, then." Maki replied casually. There was a crashing noise from inside the building; Umi abruptly snapped to look in that direction. Kotori seemed torn between the two newcomers and the noise.

She gave them an apologetic smile. "Sorry, that's our cue!"

"HONOKA! WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING STOP IT THIS INSTANT!"

Nico gave a low whistle as the duo made their way into the restaurant….reception…thing. Loudly. "I hope Honoka runs as fast as she talks."

"No kidding." Maki agreed sagely. "…want to go look for one of the brides?"

She shrugged. "Well, there's really only two places _to_ look. One is inside and the other is in the garden, if neither, they're in their car having pre-honeymoon sex. Simple science."

"Eww." The redhead made a face before shaking her head. "Let's check the garden."

"And I'll check the car when neither is there!" Nico replied in a singsong voice. Maki made another disgusted noise and kept walking.

They found Eli in the garden having a cheerful conversation with a woman about three times her age; Nico quickly made the accurate assumption that it was her grandmother and wondered briefly if she was intruding. Other members of Eli's family were hanging around the tables, including Alisa, who was babbling about something or other to her sister while she tried to braid her hair.

Before Nico could think to back off, though, the youngest Ayase caught sight of her.

Any hopes of subtlety were pretty much over from there.

"Nico!" She latched onto the older girl, who was resigned to her position. Maki seemed startled by the speed at which Alisa managed to clear the garden, raising her eyebrow at her.

Alisa managed to ignore the look she was getting. "Nico! It's been forever! I missed you, where have you been, did you do anything fun lately I heard there was this super cool new karaoke bar in Akihabara and Eli said she went with you and I'm super jealous because I bet everyone had a lot of fun and-"

"Let's calm down a little there," she said, embarrassed. "It hasn't been _that_ long, right? We can't catch up later when your sister _isn't_ about to get married?"

The blonde shot her some criminally good puppy eyes, puffing her cheeks out in a pout. "She's basically _been_ married for ages! Let me talk to yooooouuuuuu...!"

Maki had to look away, coughing into her fist to try and make it look like she wasn't laughing at Nico's situation. Alisa turned to her, head cocked to the side. "Oh! Are you Nico's girlfriend? Eli told me about you! She said you and Nico are cute together."

The redhead looked like she was going to give a straightforward response, but Nico wanted to have some more fun with this, so, as long as the 'fanclub' was around….

Nico grinned, slinging an arm around Maki's shoulder and making it a point to make the action as exaggerated as possible. "Sure are! Sweet little Maki here is desperately in love with me, so I had no choice but to accept her confession...I couldn't break an innocent girl's heart!" She sighed dramatically, and Maki looked to be waiting for Alisa to laugh, but she never did.

Again, Nico grinned. Just as she expected, the blonde believed it…Maki looked somewhere between shocked and offended, as well as torn between glaring at Nico and trying to correct whatever impressions Alisa was drawing up of her.

Instead she did nothing and just looked mildly constipated just before a very excited Alisa nearly bowled her over in her haste to get up in her face about it.

"Woahhh...that's so cute! You're such a kind person, Nico! And she must really like you, look how much she's blushing!" Alisa gushed. She gave Maki a criminally endearing smile and went in for the hug. "It's okay miss Nico's-girlfriend! I'm happy for you two!"

Nico was enjoying every second of watching Maki scramble to respond properly. "I-i.. i.."

It was only at this point that someone cared to intervene. Giggling, Eli approached the group, braid neatly tied off. "Alisa, cut it out, poor Maki looks like she's going to die of embarrassment."

"She s-said it so loudly...in public...all your relatives..." Nico winked at her and squeezed her hand, Maki attempted to pull away once before giving up and letting it happen.

"Most of our relatives are rusty in Japanese at best," Eli replied casually. "The only one at any risk of hearing and understanding that was my grandmother; A few people here like my aunt and uncle don't even speak any at all. You're fine."

Maki let out a sigh of relief, but looked up just in time to see Eli's very elderly grandmother wink at her. Even Nico snorted when she noticed it. Maki had a very different reaction. "That's it. I'm going home I can never show my face in public again-"

"Aw, get over it, you big baby! You should be proud to have a great girlfriend like me!" She kissed her on the cheek, Maki blushed harder.

"L-lets just go inside..."

Eli perked up. "Tell Nozomi I'm excited!"

"Hang out with me after the ceremony!" Alisa chirruped, seeing that Nico was preparing to follow Maki. Nico winked. Alisa winked back.

Eli's grandmother also winked. Nico wasn't even sure if that ruined the moment or made it better.

In any case, as soon as they got inside, Maki found her way to some seats and stayed there firmly. Very, very firmly. After a moment's hesitation, Nico plopped right down next to her, all sunshine. "It's going to start soon!" She enthused. Alisa was slightly infectious. Maki seemed to think otherwise, but after a moment or two of lingering embarrassment, she shook her head and responded normally.

"Yes, it is. I think we just missed Nozomi….." Maki said, looking over to a side room that Honoka was disappearing into. "…weren't you supposed to be her best girl?"

She nodded. "Yup! I didn't want to leave you alone too long before the ceremony, though. I should go check with her now, but are you…?" She trailed off, gesturing to the seats. "Is here good?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Rin and Hanayo are over there, and I'm sure as soon as you leave, Rin will be right over here asking me about the gift...tell Nozomi that I said hi, okay?"

"Got it." Nico got up and made a beeline for the room Honoka had just gone into, waving to Maki on her way out.

The back room was full of crates and a few tables that looked ready to be pulled out in case of a slightly bigger turnout. Nozomi was sitting on top of one, with an oddly thoughtful expression. If Nico didn't recognize the look, she might've thought she was trying to go to sleep.

She did, though, so she hopped up onto a table across from it and took a second to bask as well, hands curled around the edge of the table while she leaned back as far as she could. Honoka, sensing that they were about to talk, sheepishly let herself out to go see when they were supposed to start.

"Great day for a wedding, hm, Nicocchi?" Nozomi said finally, breaking the silence.

"Perfect." She sighed as she said it, sitting up straighter to cross her arms. "Is everything like you wanted it to be?"

The bride-to-be giggled. "No, not really. I think it's different in a good way, though." Nico nodded, and Nozomi looked up, as if she were trying to remember something. "Oh! That reminds me, have you seen Eli yet? What is her dress like?"

Nico raised an eyebrow. "You don't already know? Didn't you get them at the same time?"

Nozomi shook her head. "We just got them here. I trust Kotori enough to know that anything she made would be good….and look, I was right! What do you think, Nicocchi? Does it suit me?" She slid off the table, brushing the bottom of it off and then standing alert, like she was waiting for an assessment. Nico hummed appreciatively.

"Yeah, it looks great. Kotori really knows what she's doing!" And she meant that, too. Nozomi's dress was much the same as Eli's; strapless with a flower pattern around the top and then again at the waist. The dress part of it all seemed to flow from a couple fabric flowers at the right hip – Eli's at the left – and smoothly onto the floor. There was a slight purple tinge in the flowers and the bottom folds of the dress; Eli's differed again here in that it had been blue.

She grinned, wondering what her friend would think of the fact that they matched almost perfectly. She probably would think it was cute. Might as well save that surprise for the altar. "I think you'll have to wait and see Eli's, though."

The taller girl let out a disappointed sounding huff.

Nico snickered, enjoying the feeling of being the one to tease Nozomi instead of the other way around. There was a slight pause after that though, and she ran her hand through her hair, seeing Nozomi fiddling with her braids. "So, uh….."

"Something on your mind?" Nozomi asked, wiggling an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're going to be a runaway bride!" She mock-gasped.

"I'm not even the one getting married!" She yelped defensively, even though there was no real reason to be defensive. Nico huffed, arms crossed. "That's not even close, anyways. I was just going to say….." A moment's hesitation. "Thanks. For, y'know, inviting me and stuff. It's been nice catching up with you and Eli, and I feel kinda bad for not contacting you all that time after high school."

"Oh, don't feel bad about that!" Nozomi replied breezily, leaning back against the wall. "Fate has it's own way of working things out. I think things turned out just fine anyway, don't you?"

Nico shrugged. "I'm still sorry."

The purple haired girl again attempted to wave it off. "Don't be, if anything, I should be apologizing for accidentally hitting you with my car a while back."

"You _what?!"_ Hold the fucking phone.

Nozomi laughed nervously just in time for Honoka to pop her head in. "Guys! Nozomi needs to get to her place!" The bride's awkward laughter quickly turned mischievous; no doubt she was glad for the chance to leave Nico hanging like that.

Nico couldn't do anything but fume silently and do her best to put on a smile as they walked outside to where the officiator was standing. _Of course_ that was the reason Nozomi had shown up at the hospital. That sneaky little…well, she supposed she did apologize…and drive her home…..but still, seriously?!

Oh, the ceremony had started. Nico quickly straightened herself out, trying to appear serious enough for the rest of it. Eli would be up there any minute…..Honoka at least seemed to be taking her duties as a bridesmaid seriously as well, which was an interesting state to see her in.

To her ever increasing relief, nobody did anything weird during the ceremony. Umi and Kotori walked Eli in, stood there quietly, and Honoka continued to act seriously. Alisa was the ring bearer, and nobody objected, so, despite the long, loooooong speech the officiator guy was giving, it was a smooth transition from wedding to reception.

Minus, perhaps, the part where Nozomi got a little too into their kiss and made a regrettable noise.

Honoka managed to cover it with a _very_ loud and _totally not awkward_ cough, though, so at least she didn't get caught for it. Everyone swarmed the brides right away after that, of course, so Nico took the time to pull away and Honoka joined her, goofy grin still intact. "Don't you just _love_ love? I can't wait to go to the baby shower in the future!"

"Honoka….I really doubt either of them is ever going to be pregnant." She said flatly. "Doesn't that kind of make a baby shower useless?"

"Oh." She took a moment to consider that. "Maybe we can have a really, reeeeaaaally late one if they ever adopt?" Honoka shook her head quickly. "Whatever! They got married today, it's too early to be talking about stuff like that, Nico!"

She tactfully ignored the fact that Honoka was the one to bring it up and instead rolled her eyes. "Think maybe we should regroup? I'm sure Maki is wondering what's taking me so long to get down to our seats."

Honoka nodded. "Oh, right! I should probably go see what Tsubasa is up to, I don't think she knows anyone else here very well. Tell Maki I said hi!" She spun around to take off, but then, as an afterthought, added, "Can't wait to hear your speech later!"

"My…oh, _fuck_!"

She didn't write the speech. Fuck fuck fuck –

* * *

"So, where do you think Nico is?" Rin asked curiously, green eyes darting around the room. "It's been a half an hour?" It sounded like a question.

Maki shrugged. "Probably doing something stupid. Maybe she got held up by Alisa…? That girl can talk. I really wonder how anyone can like Nico that much…."

"Maki, you're _dating_ her." Rin pointed out, looking puzzled.

"S-so? That's different!" She retorted, though she was, in retrospect, really embarrassed by what she'd said. Yes, she was dating her, which meant she liked her, so that joke just made her look dumb! What was she trying to prove? Maki ran a hand through her hair, annoyed.

"I think you're embarrassed by how much you like Nico, so you try to act like it's not a big deal."

She nearly spit out her drink. Hanayo, as always, quickly apologized. "Where did you come from?"

"I went to go get some food, and came back and you were talking and I forgot which parts were out loud and which parts weren't and so –" She made a few inarticulate noises and gestured with her hands. "Sorry, I've been trying to keep a lid on it all day but it's hard! We should go hang out by Eli's family."

Rin immediately perked up. "Did Kayo-chin make a friend?"

The brunette laughed awkwardly. "Ahah, no, I just find it easier standing near them. Most of them know Russian as a first language, so, I can't accidentally…..blurt anything out….because I don't know what they're thinking…"

"Sounds convenient," Maki agreed easily. "Maybe we should look for Nozomi first, though. Nico was on her side of the ceremony, so maybe she's still around her?"

"Wow, Maki really has a one-track mind!" Rin giggled. Maki flushed and hurried off without her, but naturally the orange haired girl caught up quickly, dragging Hanayo along for the ride.

Really, though, they were only looking for one moderately short woman in a pretty small wedding. How hard could it be?

…Apparently, _really_ damn hard.

After about ten minutes and nothing to show for it, they sat down at one of the tables outside, Rin cheerfully munching on some of the appetizers while Hanayo continued to look around. "Where the hell did she get off to…?" Maki grumbled.

"Is something wrong?" It wasn't Nico, but it was someone they'd been looking for: Alisa gave the searching trio a curious look. "You look kinda bummed out. Yukiho and I can probably help!"

"...Yukiho?" Maki was drawing blanks. It sounded kind of familiar…

A redhead coughed from behind Alisa, getting her attention. "We haven't met. I'm Honoka's younger sister."

Maki nodded. "Oh, sorry. Nice to meet you. I'm Maki." With that out of the way, they had a moderately awkward silence. Maki was going to say something, but then it looked like Rin was going to talk, and they both noticed the other and stopped.

Thankfully Alisa solved the dilemma for them. "Have any of you guys seen Nico?"

She shook her head. "Actually, it's the opposite. We can't seem to find her. I was hoping you might know where she is."

"Oh, that sucks! I bet I can help you find her, though! Come on, it won't take me very long!" She said it like an invitation, but it didn't seem like Maki had much choice in the matter, because the younger girl grabbed her hand and merrily took off in a seemingly completely random direction.

"Have fun! I'll stay here and watch the food for you!" Rin called after them. Maki wasn't even sure she could blame her for flaking – those were _really_ good appetizers.

They walked through the garden and back into the venue, Alisa deftly leading the two redheads through a couple crowds of relatives and friends. Yukiho silently picked up a handful of chocolates from a nearby table while they were on the move and popped one in her mouth, grinning when she heard someone complain that it wasn't time for desserts yet.

Alisa continued to lead them through rooms, occasionally pausing and taking a deep breath, eyes closed.

"Is that some kind of focusing trick..?" Maki asked Yukiho around the third or fourth time, though she quickly moved into gear when Alisa started moving again and made a quick turn towards the door to one of the restaurant rooms.

"I'm not going to be the one to answer that." The redhead replied nonchalantly, rolling her shoulders in a shrug. "Still, wouldn't you of all people recognize stuff like this….?"

"What does _that_ mean?"

"There she is!" Alisa said excitedly, and then made short work of leaving the other two behind. Maki and Yukiho exchanged a look before eventually following, but, just as promised, they found Alisa in front of Nico at the bar section, next to Tsubasa. "Nico! Your girlfriend was looking for you!"

"Can't you just say Maki?" The girlfriend in question cut in tiredly.

The blonde shrugged and offered her a sheepish grin. "Sorry."

"You were looking for me?" Nico asked, glancing up from what appeared to be a napkin she was scribbling on. She barely looked up even then though, quickly returning to writing. Tsubasa looked on in mild amusement.

Maki nodded. "Yeah, I was looking for you after the ceremony and I couldn't find you anywhere. What are you doing?"

Nico let out a long, dramatic sigh. "I totally forgot that I would have to write a speech, so I'm doing it at the last minute, as per fucking usual."

"Uh…..I thought Umi was the one giving the speech?" Alisa asked, head cocked to one side. The black haired girl latched onto the sentence immediately, expression dropping from resigned-but-angry to _what_ in the blink of an eye. The blonde laughed nervously. "Uh, just because, Umi is my big sister's best woman…..and she offered to write it right from the start…..so….." She coughed awkwardly, seeing as Nico's _what_ look hadn't faltered in the slightest.

There was a very, very long pause. Nico put the pencil down. Looked at her speech for a while. Then up to Alisa.

"Oh thank _god_." She breathed at last, looking relieved. "Because this is _garbage_."

"I concur." Tsubasa said, agreeably. Nico looked like she _wanted_ to be offended, but couldn't. Alisa looked even more relieved than Nico appeared to be.

"Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad! Anything Nico writes is sure to be wonderful!" Maki snorted and Tsubasa slid the napkin over to the youngest Ayase, ignoring the protest from the writer of the speech on it. Alisa cheerfully looked it over, but went from cheery, to confused, to embarrassed in very little time. She covered her mouth after giving the entire thing a read.

Yukiho looked over her shoulder curiously, leaning up on her toes to get a better look. "So? What's the verdict?"

Alisa handed it over wordlessly. After skimming it, Yukiho burst out laughing. "Oh, _man_ , this is terrible! I kinda want to get it framed. Come on, you can't try to defend this, can you?"

"H-hey! I'm sitting right here, you know! Can't you at least try to act like you aren't making fun of me to my face?!" Nico fumed, getting up to snatch the napkin back. Yukiho held it out of her reach and laughed harder. Ever the dutiful friend, Alisa looked like she was trying very hard not to laugh and help Nico reclaim her speech, but she likewise couldn't reach it.

Meanwhile, Maki was somewhere else entirely. "…Hm. She's leaving…"

While everyone else was running around, Tsubasa had excused herself and was making for the front of the venue. Maybe she was looking for Honoka?

….She'd had just about enough of all this sneaky behavior.

Sighing, Maki made up her mind to follow and slipped around the girls that were goofing off. She followed from a good few feet away, unsure if Tsubasa knew she was following her and not really caring, either. Worst case scenario, she asked her what she was doing and Maki made some bullshit excuse about wanting to get to know her better.

At one of the planter boxes in front of the place, the brunette pulled out a phone, dialing. Maki mirrored the action and leaned up against the wall, trying to make it appear as though she were texting. It was kind of rude to eavesdrop, but surely…

"Hello? …Yes, I'm at the wedding….no, not ye-"

"Tsubasa! There you are!"

Damn Honoka's timing. Tsubasa apologized and hung up, turning to greet Honoka with a smile and a peck on the cheek, and Maki tried not to look too annoyed and slipped her phone back into her pocket, trying to get back in the building before – "Oh, hi Maki! Come for some fresh air?"

She sucked a breath in through her teeth and turned around, smiling. "Oh, I was just texting a friend. I was going to head back inside, since I think they're about to have the food…"

Honoka nodded eagerly. "Yup! I came out here to get Tsubasa so we could grab some seats. You want to eat with us?"

Well, even if she'd given up on spying, since karma came back for her as soon as she'd gotten the urge to snoop, it would still work out to eat around Honoka – she was talkative and it meant Maki didn't have to do much of the grunt work when it came to getting to know people. She nodded, offering a small smile. "Sure, I'll go get Nico." And then, after a moment, "So, did either of you get a chance to talk to Eli or Nozomi? I haven't been able to catch them since after the ceremony…."

"Oh, I think they're taking pictures still. Nozomi's family has a bunch of photographers, so all of them are trying to get the 'best shot'. It's actually kind of funny," Honoka snickered. "I wasn't watching the whole time, but Eli was starting to look like she wanted to cry by the time I found them. Every time she was ready to walk away and say something, someone else would run up and go, 'wait! I have the best picture idea!' and drag them right back into position."

"That sounds….really boring," Really, really boring. "I feel bad for her. What was Nozomi doing?"

"Laughing at Eli." Came the blunt, amused response.

It really wasn't hard to imagine. Maki stifled a laugh of her own and headed back inside. "Well, the food's not going to stay warm for us, so…."

"Well said." Tsubasa agreed. "Come on, Honoka, or someone else is going to eat all the bread."

The orange haired girl was in a considerable hurry after that. Maki just hoped she could find Nico before she got trampled.

* * *

Thankfully, she did. Nico was hanging around Hanayo and Rin with half of a napkin in her hand. Maki came up from behind and plucked it out of her hands, casually tossing it into the trash before taking a seat between Hanayo and Nico. Rin was already sitting across from Hanayo, and Honoka and Tsubasa took the other seats across from them. "Did I miss anything interesting?" She whispered, ignoring the scathing look from Nico.

"Nope! Umi started giving her speech a little bit ago but I kind of zoned out? I'm not sure if she's done talking yet, actually." Rin mused, then angled her head a little bit to see up to the front of the room. Umi was still standing. "Is it rude to talk while someone is giving a speech? Oh, do you think she hears-"

Umi coughed into her hand loudly. "Yes, Rin, I can hear you."

"Oh. Sorry Umi!"

The girl in question just sighed and tried to get back on track with the speech. Maki quickly understood why and how Rin had zoned out earlier – she knew next to none of the things Umi was talking about. Fair enough, since she was really only at the wedding as Nico's guest, but….hey, Nico was zoning out too! If she had to listen to this, Nico did too!

Maki elbowed her and irritably gestured towards Umi with her head.

Nico scowled. "What, it's not a crime to get bored, is it?" She whispered irritably.

"You're at a wedding! Show some respect!"

"Pfft, she doesn't know I'm zoning out. Look, she's almost done, anyways" Maki elbowed her again. "Heyy, cut it out!" She whined. "I'm already paying attention, okay? God, chill for five seconds, would you?"

She didn't bother to answer that, but she did sneak some food off Nico's plate while she was staring grumpily in the other direction.

Hey, she was just a tag along here. She didn't have to pay attention.

Probably.

As soon as everyone was able to talk again, Honoka and Rin made it a point to pretend to fall over in their chairs and be 'dead' from boredom, except Honoka let herself fall too fast and slammed her face into the table.

Maki snorted and had to look away while a few of the others expressed concern. "Honoka! Don't actually die!" Rin shook the other orange haired girl.

"I'm okay! Just bumped my nose." Honoka said, popping back up and giggling.

"What a way to get an injury….Here, let me see. Nothing too bad, right?" Reaching up to angle Honoka's face toward herself, Tsubasa inspected the damage. "Hm. I think you broke it."

She sat bolt upright. "Seriously?!"

Tsubasa hummed in response, appearing entirely nonchalant. "It seems so. Thankfully, I know how to fix it…." Was this going where Maki thought it was going?

Honoka seemed to catch on as well, because she looked a lot less distressed and a lot more eager. "What's that?"

"I'll be forced to kiss it better, of course."

They both laughed a little and had their fun, and Maki turned to face Nico when she was tapped on the shoulder. "Why can't we flirt like that?" She whispered, eyes still on the other couple. Then she looked to their right and frowned even deeper. "Or like that! Rin and Hanayo look like they're in a whole 'nother _world_! Why are we the unromantic ones here?!"

"Umm…sorry. I'm no good at flirting. But I don't think it's a problem." She concluded, crossing her arms. "We're romantic enough, aren't we?"

"Hardly." The shorter girl sighed. Kind of loudly. When Maki didn't do anything she sighed again, slightly louder.

"….do you need something?"

Nico facepalmed.

Across the table, Tsubasa laughed. "Maybe you need to be a bit clearer with your signals?"

"Hey, butt out, would you?"

"Sorry. Still, I was actually hoping to talk to you earlier….." She trailed off, and, seeing the blank look from Nico, clarified. "You were in the middle of writing a speech and asked me to wait a while. Then dinner started, and I had to take a call….you see where I'm going with this. Do you have a moment?"

"Oh." Nico looked a bit embarrassed, and scratched at the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry. What did you want to talk about?"

"Nothing so serious, don't get embarrassed. I was just thinking we might hang out." She suggested amiably, leaning back in her own chair. "I've gotten to know most of Honoka's other friends, so I just thought it'd be something to throw out there. I'm still relatively new to town, too, so I was hoping for an excuse to visit some places."

Maki set her elbows on the table and kept eating her food, but her attention was a lot more focused on the conversation at hand now. It was none of her business, so really…. She tried to resist the urge to snoop further. "Rin, have you seen Nozomi or Eli? I haven't gotten a chance to congratulate them yet."

She broke out of her little daze with Hanayo and nodded quickly. "Oh, of course, nya! They're right over there, in one of the tables by the garden. Take Kayo-chin, too! I think she's too shy to do it on her own."

"O…kay?" Odd, considering Hanayo and Rin were supposedly already good friends with the two, but…well, whatever worked, worked. Hanayo looked embarrassed when she got up to follow.

Halfway to the table, she stopped. Maki curiously did the same and turned around. "You alright?"

"I think Tsubasa and Nico have a misunderstanding, or something?" She said haltingly, looking flustered. "Rin, uh, said I should say something. I've already said hi to Nozomi and Eli…."

"A misunderstanding? How so?" Was it something to be worried about?

Hanayo looked uncomfortable for a bit. "Oh, just, Tsubasa seems kind of confused about Nico? Um, she seems to be mistaking her for someone else she knows, and I'm pretty sure Nico doesn't know that. So, it'd be awkward, if they hung out and Tsubasa said something…..but I can't say anything to her directly because, uh, you know…."

"Then she'd know you were reading her mind." Maki concluded. Oh, man, this explained a lot of her behavior. Guess it was harmless, after all. No snooping required! Feeling suddenly cheerful, she gave the brunette a quick grin. "Well, thanks for that! Don't worry, I'll tell Nico later. Mind going with me to say hello to the brides again, anyway? I don't really care to wander all over the garden looking for them by myself…"

"Okay. They're over here." Hanayo looked kind of relieved too.

As expected, the duo was already talking to someone when Maki and Hanayo found them, but she didn't have a problem waiting. Eli offered a quick smile. "Hello."

"You two have had to do a lot of talking today, huh? Sorry, you're probably hoping to get a break."

"It's okay!" Nozomi replied for her, looking a touch too cheerful. "I think it's for the best we aren't left alone until later tonight. I like it when Eli is tense; then she's more fun to tease later. If anyone at all followed my last suggestion on the registry, then we should have plenty of new things to try out, besides th-"

Hanayo nearly fainted. Seeing this, Maki took the opportunity and bailed as well, citing the brunette as her reason to very, _very_ quickly return to her seat. While she was walking away, though, she caught the tail end of their conversation.

"Nozomi, did you really have to shoo them off with _that_ kind of teasing?"

"Who said I was joking?" A pause, then Nozomi's laughter.

Well, at least Maki would have someone to point to when Nico complained about being the 'least romantic' couple now. Nothing the purple haired girl had just said was romantic in the slightest.

Before they made it back to the table, Nico approached, looking annoyed. "Hey, Maki, do you still want a ride home? I have to leave; Cotarou put Cocoa's toy in the sink and ruined it and she's having a fit. I have to leave early and help Cocoro."

"Oh, uh –" Well, it probably couldn't be helped. She'd had her fill of socializing too, so... "I'm okay with leaving now." Nico nodded, and Maki gave an apologetic look to Hanayo. "Tell the others I said bye."

"Okay. Have fun?" Hanayo shook her head. "Or, get home safe, I mean! I'll tell Rin you said bye."

Maki nodded and followed Nico out, insisting they didn't need to go tell the brides bye personally (her face still flushed when she thought about Nozomi's scatter tactic) and ending off with a more or less pleasant car ride home.

"So, did you have a good time at the wedding..?" She asked, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the event in question. Nico paused to think about it, but then nodded, giving the redhead a near-blinding smile.

"It was really satisfying to see them finally tie the knot. And I had fun socializing, too. It sucks that I couldn't stay long enough for them to bust the drinks out, though…." She said, throwing in a low sigh.

"Yeah. What a shame." Maki replied dryly. "I guess I enjoyed myself too. I'm kind of curious, though…you looked kind of irritated for a bit when you were first up by Nozomi? You know, just as they were all getting in order for the actual ceremony. What was that about?"

Nico cocked her head to the side. "I was? Why would I be –" There was an abrupt gasp and Nico slammed on the brakes, halting their progress out of the parking lot. "Nozomi ran me over! I can't believe I fucking _forgot_ that she hit me with her car! That sneaky little….." She went on to grumble some choice things about the purple haired woman.

Maki decided she really didn't want to know anymore.

* * *

 **AN: procrastination is evil and i have no excuses tbh holy SHIT i'm so sorry i left you hanging for so long! I won't let it happen again with this story. Mostly because it's so short from this point forward but hey! This is actually my longest chapter yet for ygtbk or anything, really. it's like 6,000 something words. Not a good enough compensation for leaving you hanging for 2-3 months, but it's. something, i guess, haha.**

 **Also! ! I'm never writing! ! !another damn wedding! EVER AGAIN! ! ! ! it was a Mistake that i will not repeat and honestly i only wanted to do it for fun and also so that i could have the scenes with Eli's family and the scene with the big reveal: who _actually_ hit Nico waaayyy back in chapter one. Nozomi is such a shitlord like geez just _tell_ her next time you accidentally run her over, god**

 **at least she had the sense to delay the call-in though becaus this story could've gone differently if some random stranger had hit her and instead of a hospital she woke up in like. science jail or some other bs sci-fi movie plot**

 **Anyways! I don't want to delay posting this any further, but I'll probably realize there's errors and then come back and edit some stuff haha. Thank you so much for being patient with me and for reading! Hopefully this was decent or at least on par with the rest of the story after such a long break, haha. See you soon, hopefully!**


	15. Chapter 15

The days after the wedding blended together into a single stretch of time - an avalanche of pictures from the newlyweds, questions from her mother about meeting her 'boyfriend', family bonding time at Nico's house – and Maki found herself relaxing easily in this new routine.

After a month of one train wreck after another, everything seemed to have evened out. Balancing things was occasionally stressful, but one of the perks of dating a werewolf was that she could generally bank on having something soft to squeeze the life out of after a frustrating day.

Not that that was something she was inclined to do _often._

…..Okay, maybe every now and again. But she didn't see Nico complaining about it much.

She sighed contentedly and pulled the girl in question a little closer on the couch. Nico turned to shoot her a quizzical look. "What's with all the sighing today?"

"I'm just tired." She deflected easily, running a hand through her hair. "Nothing big. Also, this movie is putting me to sleep."

Nico looked offended. "Um, excuse me? Drew Barrymore is an angel and this performance is _heart wrenching_ , how could you be falling asleep?"

"Maybe because this 'medical condition' sounds like a load of bull? I'll admit I haven't completed my studies, but, seriously….this is too specific. You can't seriously believe that the _only_ issue from that kind of trauma is –"

"Oh my goooooooddd, this is why I hate watching movies with you," Nico groaned, then gave the redhead a playful shove to escape the arm draped around her shoulders. "Let me guess, you'd rather be watching a cartoon?"

Maki crossed her arms. "It was just a _suggestion_ ," She sniffed, thinking back to the earlier that day when she had recommended they watch a movie she'd seen Cocoa putting away. "….it looked cute."

Nico rolled her eyes. "Ah, geez. Whatever, it doesn't matter – I actually have something I was going to do later, so this movie was going to be cut short, anyways."

Interest piqued, Maki also stood up, moving to Nico's side curiously, peeking over her shoulder while she put the movie away. "You do?"

"Yup! I'm gonna go have a night out with Tsubasa. She said she's been meaning to hang out, and both of us are finally, y'know, not busy, so…" Maki raised an eyebrow. A Thursday night was a little odd, but she guessed if Tsubasa was busy Friday it'd make sense. "Anyway, we're going to hang out around 6-ish. Want me to drop you off at your house before then?"

She nodded. "Sure, I should probably be getting started on my homework soon anyways." Maki glanced at the clock on their way through the kitchen; 5:47. "Are you sure you aren't going to be late? Where are you meeting up?"

"Nah, I'm not going to be late!" She chirruped. "We decided to meet up not far from Honoka's place, which is a bit closer to my house. It'll be fine!" She said breezily.

"If you say so….."

That settled, Maki gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before heading inside, pausing only when she passed her mother sitting in the loft upstairs. "Hi, mom. Off work early?"

She hummed an agreement. "Yes, I am. I thought it'd be nice to have some mother-daughter time!"

Maki found herself wishing she'd asked to tag along with Nico or something earlier and braced herself for yet more questions about her completely fictional 'boyfriend'.

Was this, possibly, getting out of hand?

Probably. For now, though, she smiled awkwardly and moved to sit down.

* * *

Elsewhere, Nico quickly found herself in a very similar situation. She'd gotten to the café on time, and they'd exchanged pleasantries more or less seamlessly, but…..

Well. They didn't actually have that much to talk about, despite all of Tsubasa's charm. The brunette even actually seemed a bit off-balance, for once. "So, I was wondering….."

"Yeah?"

"I…kind of need to ask, for my job, ah…." She rubbed at the back of her head, avoiding eye contact. Evidently, she was trying to think of the right way to phrase whatever it was, while Nico looked on, brow furrowed. What could Tsubasa's job have to do with her….?

Tsubasa seemed to have figured out what she wanted to say, because she cleared her throat. "Do you happen to know where you were on November the fifth?"

Okay, now she was a little suspicious. "What kind of question is that? That was like three months ago." She asked in return, eyebrow raised. "What do you think I'm going to say?"

The brunette glanced over to her left again, out at the street, looking reluctant. "Well…..I'm here on investigation – I plan on moving in later, though, I'm not only staying for this – and, unfortunate as it is, you're the only person we've found that matches up with all the information we were given."

"Are you saying I'm suspected for something?" Nico asked, tensing in her seat. She hadn't done anything illegal, so –

"I'm saying, on the fifth, a camper was attacked, and you're the only non-registered werewolf in the entire ward." She replied with a distasteful sigh, pushing an opened wallet onto the table. It probably had a badge displayed, but Nico was too busy being startled to bother looking down at it. "Honestly, I don't really think it was you, but –"

"But _what_?! If you don't think it was me, then why –"

"Because we ruled out all of the registered werewolves, and the younger Ayase has blonde hair when the description said black, and the Miki family likewise doesn't match the description." She replied, folding her arms. "I don't think it was you, but Anju really wants an arrest. If you can just tell me where you might have been…..Any sort of alibi, that sort of thing, I can probably help you out."

It was a tad bit late to be trying to talk sense into her. Having left the realm of plausible deniability – aka, having accidentally confirmed she was a werewolf – she was now entering an actual panic mode. She didn't do bad things, she didn't do bad things –

Tsubasa tapped her on the shoulder, looking moderately concerned, and it proved to be what tipped her over the edge.

Nico ran like hell.

She heard Tsubasa suck in a deep, exasperated breath behind her before any footsteps began to follow suit.

* * *

"-busy tomorrow night, so we wouldn't be able to go out to dinner, sorry." Just as she'd suspected, the topic had quickly turned to her love life, and Maki had resorted to piling one lame excuse onto another in hopes of worming out of it for just one week longer.

Unfortunately, her mother had clearly picked up on it, and, as every fear, the sight of that disappointment made her gut clench. "Maki," She started, tone dropping just a bit.

"I can ask him if next weekend works," She said, fiddling with a lock of hair, even though she knew that would give her away.

"Why don't you want me to meet this boy?"

Aaah, there it was. Maki flinched, trying to think of anything she could do to stall her response. "I – Um….I, I just-"

* * *

Somewhere along the way Nico noticed that two more sets of feet had joined in on the chase, but she was too busy to look behind her – only running mattered, at the moment.

She quickly slipped between some passerby in an attempt to buy herself more time, running a list of places she could go in her mind – her house was out, everyone was still home and this was a mess – Nozomi and Eli were away honeymooning, so they were also out, and Maki – she shouldn't get her involved in this train wreck, either. Honoka's store was open and she didn't know where Umi or Kotori lived, and Rin and Hanayo were similarly not options, one being away at work and the other barely able to open the door without a twenty-second pause.

Comforting. She decided to veer towards the more shopping-focused corners of town, hoping crowds could dissuade Tsubasa and the others, even if Honoka's house was a bust for shelter.

A hand reached her shoulder, and for a brief moment, she was spun around, staring up at a hard jawline and purple hair, another hand reaching for her other shoulder – and she slipped the jacket and kept going.

The girl from the bar, huh?

Nico was getting the feeling this wasn't so spur of the moment as she'd thought.

* * *

"It's hard to explain," She'd settled on, avoiding direct eye contact. "It's not anything to worry about, I just don't want him to be embarrassed."

Her mom's eyebrows furrowed. "Embarrassed?"

"That I put this off for so long." That, at the very least was a partial truth. Maki was just as worried that Nico would be upset over all this very much intentional stalling as she was that her mother would think it was distasteful. "It's a vicious cycle." She added, feeling very much exposed.

Imperceptibly, her mother nodded. "Then break it. Ask him over right now and I'm sure everything will go well –"

"That's not how it works, mom!"

* * *

Turns out, going to the more crowded areas was, in fact, a bad idea. Rather than assume her to be a victim, it would appear that all the passerby had gotten the wrong idea. Multiple people attempted to halt her, assuming she'd stolen something.

Nico bit her tongue to avoid cursing as loud as possible, and cut into an alley, recognizing it as the one she had gotten Maki lost in months ago.

Since nothing ever works, ever, of course they followed, but at least this way she wasn't getting stopped every few blocks. Nico squeezed her way through the crack between a truck and the wall, taking turns wherever possible.

* * *

Maki's phone started to buzz, and she jumped on the excuse to leave the room, practically sweating buckets as she felt the not-so-subtly upset gaze of her mother hot on her back. Arguments like this were really….regrettable, to say the least.

She slid the answer button and held it up to Rin blabbering immediately in her ear. " _Maki! Maki Maki Maki oh my god where is Nico right now?!"_

"Why are you yelling, what –"

" _She just ranpast the store im in andIthinkshethinksshe'sgoingtodieand I'm really worried and – and!"_

"Slow down, you're _where_? _What_ about Nico?" Why does everything happen so much? Maki thought she was going to be able to take a _breather,_ not be launched into another crisis. Still, this sounded like more than Rin being excited, so it was better to be careful.

It was usually better to be careful when it came to Nico running around the city like an idiot.

Rin shuffled around a lot on her end of the line. " _Try the shrine for now! I thinkshemightrunpastyourhouse though so maybetrytoleavethedoor open or –"_

"Okay, I'll go out and try to catch her now. Thanks for the heads up." She hung up, then glanced back over into the other room.

Welllllll…

"Bye mom, I'm headed out! Emergency!" Oh thank god. Maybe there really was a good time to have a crisis.

"Maki, I'm not done talking with you-"

She was out the door and headed for the streets downtown before the sentence could be finished.

* * *

As regrettable as it was to say, Nico was running out of ground. Maybe if she could make it to the woods, maybe if she could get past the fence or into the housing district, then maybe they wouldn't catch her –

Something slammed into her back and Nico wondered exactly how terrible her luck had to be to jinx things without even having the luxury of saying the stupid thing out loud.

She squirmed while a girl she also vaguely recognized started trying to get her arms behind her back.

Panting, Tsubasa had caught up. "Guys, we don't, have enough to prove–"

"How about resisting arrest?" The purple haired girl replied, running a hand through her hair.

"Erena are you kidding me-"

The voice from behind her chipped in. "Oooh, when do I get to take her home?" Nico elbowed her in the stomach, resetting her progress on trying to keep her arms behind herself.

Tsubasa brought her hands to her face and sighed, loudly. "You don't! We haven't even finished the investigation yet! And if _somebody_ hadn't jumped the gun on making me question her, then maybe we wouldn't have this problem, because she wouldn't have ran away at all!"

"What's your point," The purple one asked dully.

"Are we arresting or not? I'm booooreed!"

Nico silently consoled herself with the knowledge that at least her captors were idiots.

…..She also consoled herself with the knowledge that she'd gotten where she wanted to go. The black haired girl looked around, finding herself in the residential district, near the back end of someone's backyard. Nobody was around, so…

While the trio argued, she decided to take advantage of the extra time and get a little bit better prepared for running.

"Uh, guys?" The redhead prompted, being the first to notice.

Tsubasa had her arms crossed. "Not now, and _no_ , we are not going to arrest her."

" _Guys_ ," She repeated, more insistently.

The two arguers turned around at the same time, both looking various degrees of exasperated and annoyed. "What?!"

"Werewolf! Remember?!" Anju yelped, just as Nico finally slipped out of her grasp and hightailed it away from them as fast as possible.

Although, it was pretty satisfying to hear them cursing and scrambling to (try) and catch up with her. Doing her best approximation of gloating, she angled her ears back to hear her well-earned disappointment better. Hah. Take that, weird supernatural polic-

She slammed headfirst into something soft, practically doing a roll over it and managing, of course, to get her legs tangled up in it. Fuck, fuck – she growled.

"Nice to see you too," Grumbled the 'thing' she'd run into. "Idiot. Watch where you're running, at least! I was looking for you!"

Oh.

Extra fuck.

"She's over here! Erena, it looks like she's getting ready to bite!"

Jesus _christ_ , could anyone or anything just _chill_ for five seconds?!

Scrambling to her feet, which was actually just a lot of accidentally stepping on Maki and trying to get a decent stance on the actual sidewalk, she made a half-baked attempt to start running again.

Between Maki's confusion and mild anger, it didn't work out so well.

"What the hell is going on over here?!" She demanded, although she knew better than to look at Nico for answers at the moment – she put a hand on her back. Nico similarly knew better than to run off at that, and was at least glad that the pursuers had calmed down somewhat.

"Look out! I'm going to take a shot!" Correction: two of them had calmed down. Nico whimpered and hurried behind Maki, who put an arm out protectively. Anju looked disappointed. "Ugh. Guess not."

The trio approached them, Erena leading while Tsubasa grumbled from the further end. Nico was able to make out most of it – something about nobody listening to her and 'definitely going to do private work in the future' – and was vaguely glad that she at least appeared to be on her side for the time being.

Erena was the first to speak. "We're going to have to take her in for questioning –" She started, but was quickly cut off.

"Actually, you're going to have to take a couple steps back, first," Maki said, crossing her arms. Nico noticed her square her shoulders a little, evidently doing her best to look assertive. "You have to explain yourselves."

"We've had this werewolf case for a few months and she's _one of_ the suspects," Tsubasa explained, putting an emphasis on the phrase 'one of', tapping her fingers along her arm irritably. "Not the culprit by any means –"

"But she could be." Erena cut in, looking just as annoyed as her coworker. "You can't ignore the possibility just because she 'seems nice' –"

Nico seriously considered sneaking off, but Maki was still more or less holding her by the scruff of her back, so it would seem impossible. She pressed her head up against Maki's side, looking for reassurance.

Maki seemed bolstered by that and spoke up, interrupting the current argument. "Explain the case."

"It's suuuuper confidential, though!" Anju chirruped, apparently bored from being silent so long. "I'm pretty sure it's against the rules." At this, Nico shrunk away a little. Was this going to look bad…? If she couldn't talk, then she couldn't explain anything, Maki might think – she might think poorly of her….

Ears flat, she considered slipping off again. Quietly, nobody would notice…..

"Unless she could be an alibi." Tsubasa suggested, risking a glance between the other two. Neither seemed to object. She looked relieved. "Okay, so, on Novmber fi-"

"She's escaping!" Ah. Somebody noticed. Nico picked up the pace until she heard the faintest 'click' noise before a much louder pop.

Somewhere in her long-since-buried sense of reasoning, she was able to figure out that that was Not Good. Sparks flew off the pavement a fraction to her right, hot flecks nearly flying into the fur on her front legs. Nico ground to a halt at a speed that could've broken the laws of physics, latching onto the ground with any and all force she could muster, nails finding traction on the cement and grinding themselves down to nubs in the effort.

Despite the ringing in her ears, she was able to make out something that sounded like a complaint coming from Maki and was then startled by a pair of hands reaching roughly around her torso.

With visible effort, Maki managed to lift Nico and begin a somewhat stunted walk towards her house.

"Where the hell are you going with the suspect?" The purple one asked irritably, approaching them from the side. Nico was intelligent enough to realize that in this position she could not be punished and made a point of snapping at her. Erena made a face and took two steps back, clearing her throat. "We need to take her in for questioning."

Maki huffed and did her best to glare at Erena without turning around. "I'm taking this discussion to my house. And you'd better put that gun away, or else my mother will call _actual_ cops."

"…alright, but do you have to _carry_ her?" She asked, irritably.

Nico whined when Maki put her down, making a show of stretching out and ensuring her near-shredded claws were in view – walking hurt, damn it, and if Maki was strong enough to carry her, then –

"Here, I'll do it." Tsubasa offered, scooping her up over her shoulder in a fireman's carry before the werewolf could do so much as blink in protest.

She pouted the whole way back to Maki's house.

* * *

Maki stood on the porch unsure of how to reenter the house, but with 3 – well, four, - impatient people behind her, there wasn't much time to stall. She cautiously knocked on the frame of the door before letting herself in, holding up a hand to signal that the others should wait a moment. Her mother was still sulking in the room Maki had left her in, which caused her a fair share of guilt, but she shook it off and cleared her throat. "Oh! You're back. What was the emergency?"

"They're on our doorstep, actually." She admitted, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers, idly pretending she was more interested in that than her 'crisis'. "I was going to ask permission to settle it in the kitchen."

Seeing her mother's hesitation, she jumped in again. "Don't worry, I can clean it up when they leave."

Resigned, the older Nishikino shook her head. "It's fine, then. Don't think you're off the hook, though. We're finishing our conversation later."

"I understand," She replied, hand dropping to her side. Fidgeting with her hair wasn't going to get her anywhere, she should just be glad they'd be able to use the kitchen. "You don't have a problem with dogs, right, mother?" Maki asked, already on her way to open the door.

Her mother didn't have time to respond as the trio – with Nico in tow – walked through the doorway and politely greeted her mother before walking to the kitchen without so much as a hesitant footstep.

"Thank you, mom!" She said quickly, and then hurried into the kitchen and did her best to pretend she was setting up snacks, setting out glasses for everyone and gesturing to the fridge in case anyone wanted to get their own water.

"I hope you vacuum up after bringing that into the kitchen," She sighed, but was otherwise fine with it. Maki's mom made her way upstairs and Maki let out her own sigh of relief when she heard the door click shut.

She nudged Nico, who had been set down and was approaching Maki with a cloyingly sweet look, head cocked just enough to make the redhead melt a little bit. She made a chuffing noise and put her head in her lap. Maki was very reluctant to ask her to turn back, but it had to be done. "This might be easier if you were also at the table, you know…" She trailed off.

Nico did her best approximation of grumbling and stepped out of the room; Maki turned almost mechanically to face the other three guests. Now would be a good time to get some answers. "So…" she started, finger tracing the rim of her cup, "Why exactly are you three chasing my girlfriend around with a gun?"

Tsubasa coughed before either of her associates could get a word in, which both looked like they wanted to do. "We're all part of the underground police for-"

"I knew it was a shitty romance novel," Maki muttered darkly under her breath, fidgeting with her fingers pressed against the table. This is what she got for dating a werewolf, wasn't it? All those cuddle sessions and dog jokes had to catch up with her eventually.

"Come again?" Tsubasa asked, clearly confused.

Maki shook her head. "It's nothing. You were saying?"

She nodded. "As I was saying…essentially, we monitor crimes that the normal police would brush off."

"The real police are kind of dense," Anju chimed in helpfully. She made a show of trying to toss her hair. "I mean, don't any of them have any sense of romance? What else could it be but a creature of the night, assaulting an innocent hiker?"

"Wow," Nico said, cracking her back as she walked in. "I _already_ don't want to be here again. Good to see you all waited for me." She said, sarcastically. Maki rolled her eyes and pulled a seat out for her girlfriend; Nico took the seat and huffed, leaning in slightly to her side. Maki noted that the tips of all her fingers were scraped up. "I'd like to state, on the record, _again,_ that I didn't do anything."

"Your statement means nothing." Erena said flatly.

"Figures as much." Nico grumbled.

Maki coughed. "Wasn't there a point we were supposed to be getting to?"

Tsubasa took a deep breath. "All in one sentence, now…" She muttered, as if that would keep her from being interrupted. "In early November last year, a camper was fatally attacked, and our sources were able to gather that the wounds were from a werewolf. Since that time, our suspect list has been narrowed to Nico and….well, she and…." Suddenly, the brunette looked terrifically uncomfortable, standing up and mumbling something about getting water.

"What she means to say is, we have no other significant leads." Erena supplied helpfully.

Next to her, Nico swallowed.

Maki took the time to weigh her options here. Reason would tell her that if there weren't other leads then Nico really would be a suspect, but on the other hand, she knew from personal experience that Nico was about as harmless as a particularly obnoxious duck on her worst days, and on most other days, wouldn't even consider harming most _insects_ , let alone try to take a chunk out of some camper.

Unfortunately, it didn't look like Erena was going to take that excuse, either. Maki leaned back in the chair, crossing her arms. "I've been spending a lot of time with her since around early November as well. If you can give me the day it happened, maybe I can say if we were hanging out or not…?" She suggested finally, uncertain.

Tsubasa, now back with her water, sighed. "That's unlikely, unless you were having a sleepover. The attack was in the middle of the night, November fifth."

"The beginning of the month," She muttered. While Maki picked her brain for anything they might have been doing at the time, Nico also appeared to be deep in thought.

A small, sharp inhale to her side told her the other girl had come up with something. "I was at your house."

"After only just meeting? Not a very believable story, you know. If you're going to lie, at least put some effort into it!" Anju admonished, leaning across the table to try and pinch the werewolf. Nico evaded it and scowled.

"I meant it! That was what, Friday? I was hit by a car! No way I was out jumping at people, I could barely _walk_." She defended, arms crossed.

Everyone looked to Maki, who nodded slowly. "She's not lying. If it's this important, I might be able to find a record of it…"

Tsubasa frowned, pulling her phone out. She flicked through a few things before sighing and rubbing her temples. "…I'm sorry, but the Fifth was Sunday. Her leg might have been good enough to walk on by then. It's not enough."

"Two days for a broken leg?! Are you kidding me?" Nico whined, draping herself uselessly across Maki, arms dragging down the sleeve of her jacket. Maki didn't care enough to pull it back up. "That's ridiculous, even for me!"

"Werewolves heal at a faster rate than –"

Maki cut Erena off there. "I have proof it was still broken Saturday. Unless you mean her leg fixed itself in _one_ day, you can drop it now. I could lie, but a veterinarian wouldn't; not in this situation. "

"..Point taken. I suppose if that's true, she's not our suspect, after all." Erena admitted, to the visible relief of the couple sitting across the table. "That said, we do have a werewolf to catch. Do you have any leads? Any acquaintances…..anything. We need this one found before they reopen the park."

While Nico seemed loathe to help her pursuers, she had at the very least calmed down by this point, staying comfortably slouched against Maki. "Sorry, but no. I only know one other werewolf, and you've looked into her already."

"Perfect," Anju grumbled. "Just wait 'til we actually catch this thing. I'm gonna punch them in the face for wasting so many of my vacation hours."

"Well, be sure to tell them we said hi, too." Nico said, dismissively, then added with a frown – "And also tell them "fuck you" for making you guys think I was whoever they are. Make sure that gets relayed too."

The trio nodded with varying degrees of hesitation and stood up, heading for the door in a scattered line. "What a mess over nothing," Maki muttered, under her breath.

"Wait! We need, just….one, tiny little favor." Tsubasa said abruptly, halting in her steps.

Damn, she always spoke too soon on this sort of thing. Maki and Nico exchanged a weary look before asking what, precisely, was so important that Tsubasa could ask that they do it even after trying to literally arrest Nico.

...

...Thankfully it really was only a tiny favor; one of them just needed to use the bathroom before they left. Thoroughly exhausted, Nico found her way to the couch and fell onto it. Maki, too _done_ with all the nonsense, settled in next to her, running an idle hand through her hair. Nico leaned into the touch.

"….Mind if I take a nap here?" She asked, and Maki shrugged, not feeling the need to say yes but knowing she wouldn't be able to say no.

"I don't," She said eventually. "My mother's upstairs, though."

Nico yawned. "Whatever. She knows we're dating, it's not like it's going to be a huge surprise."

Ah. This was awkward. Maki made a stifled noise and did her best not to suddenly jerk away from the couch. Confused, Nico turned her head slightly and raised an eyebrow. Maki avoided eye contact and let out a short, awkward laugh. "Ahah. About that…."

It took a moment before it seemed to fully dawn on Nico what she was being told. Her face dropped. "You're joking, right?"

Maki looked away guiltily. Nico sat up and punched her on the arm. Not hard, but enough to let her know she was in for it now. "What the hell, Maki? What, are you embarrassed of –"

"Shhh! She's right upstairs!" Nico shot her a withering glare; Maki wilted. "…..I don't know how to tell her, okay?" Her voice dropped to a lower volume, as if she was even more embarrassed of what she was going to do next. "I think she wants _babies_. What am I supposed to do?! You have siblings, at least…." She whined.

Nico sighed. "I'm positive my mom wouldn't care if every single one of my siblings didn't have babies. It's not the end of the damn world, you know. I'm sure your parents will get it!"

"Are you forgetting the fact that you haven't _met_ either of them yet?" Maki asked, incredulously.

"You're right. I'm just bluffing." She admitted. "I really, reeeeaaally want to get it over with, though."

Maki grit her teeth, sucking in a deep breath between them. "I….guess we should, then. I'll go get my mother." Nico grabbed her hand before she left the couch. "What?"

"Just thought you'd need the reassurance! If you get nervous, just think of Nico-nii's beautiful –"

"I think I'm going to change my mind if you keep talking," She muttered, but even despite that, she appreciated the gesture. "You don't need to be so melodramatic about it…"

"' _You don't need to be so melodramatic about it'_ ," She parroted, but then shook her head. "Well? You're wasting daylight, you know."

She nodded and hurried up the stairs. Outside her room and poised to knock, Maki wondered if, possibly, she should have tried to give her some more warning, then, as an afterthought, decided that her mother had been asking for it, so…she knocked.

"Yes?"

"My friends left." Maki said, cautiously. "I, um….invited you-know-who over…..Because I felt bad…."

Her mother sat up a little straighter. Blinked attentively. "Really? You did? After all that fuss today?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. We'll, uh, be downstairs." Maki twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "…Please try your best to like, um…'him'…"

She nodded and put a hand on her shoulder like she was going to say something, but then refrained, settling on a nod instead. Maki wondered if that smile was forced or if she was imagining it.

They walked downstairs and Nico sat up straighter on the couch. Maki had just enough time to see the confusion cross her mom's face before she made it the rest of the way there. "I, uh. Might have lied a little about the 'boyfriend' part. This is Nico."

There was a period of silence. Maki wondered if this was the part where she got disowned and people spit on her and she also got an anime wasting disease and died, only having fueled Nico's tragic backstory with her existence – "Oh, thank god! It's a girl." Maki's mother said, sounding quite relieved.

Maki short circuited.

Since it was apparently obvious enough from her face, her mother kindly took the time to elaborate, moving closer to the duo as she did. "The way you were putting this off I was worried you were dating some _delinquent_ , for god's sakes. You simply can't scare your mother like that….But it's just a cute girl!" She said, cheerfully. She even tried to pinch Nico's cheeks.

Nico looked vaguely uncomfortable but also like she was going to give Maki the 'I-told-you-so' of her _life_ as soon as it was all over and done.

"So, you aren't….Worried, or mad, or anything…?" Maki asked tentatively.

"Are you _trying_ to get her to be?!" Nico hissed, elbowing her in the stomach. "It worked out well, just accept it!"

Her mother laughed. "Oh, not at all, dear. I had a thing for quite a few lovely young ladies back in the day, myself. If that Minami man hadn't come and swept Mikoto off her feet, you might not even be here..."She trailed off.

Maki stiffened, face flushing an impossible shade of red. "M-mom! You don't need to tell me stuff like that!"

"Isn't Minami Kotori's last name…?" Nico muttered, to herself. Seeing as the more prominent issue still hadn't been resolved, she let the thought pass, opting to think about it later.

"What? I'm only saying it to ease your nerves, dear." Maki's mother replied, still seeming overly pleased. More to herself, she said, "I wonder how I didn't catch it earlier…."

"Th-that's not the point! Mom, you're married!" Maki said, arms crossed. "I thought dad was the only one you ever went out with!"

"So does he." She giggled.

Nico blinked. "Wow, Maki, your mom is a hell of a lot funnier than I expected. Is your dad like this too?"

Maki shrugged defensively. She seemed to be done talking for the moment. Her mother focused on fawning over Nico in the spare time. Nico focused on enjoying the attention as much as possible.

It was a good system.

After a good ten minutes of socializing, Maki seemed to hit her breaking point and looked for an excuse to leave the house. "I'm glad you two are having fun and all, but I _just_ remembered I left something at Rin's house the other day," She started.

"Yeah, yeah, you're embarrassed, I got it." Nico snickered. "Come on, I can take you out to ice cream for being a big girl and finally introdu-"

"I'm sorry, I thought you _wanted_ to keep going out with me?" Nico looked away, suddenly very interested in the tile of the kitchen. That seemed to satisfy the redhead, Maki turning to face her mom and gesturing vaguely to the door. "Do you mind if we…?"

"Oh, sure. Go have fun, girls! It was nice meeting you, Nico. Come by again and maybe I can pull up a few of Maki's baby pictures –"

"Bye mom love you I have to go right now!" Maki said hurriedly, all but dragging Nico out of the door.

They made it past the gate when Maki took a deep breath, only just then actually feeling the relief she'd expected to feel much earlier. Nico rolled her eyes and moved up to her side, giving her a playful hip bump. "Hey! Nobody exploded. That's a plus, huh?"

Not having the energy to make a comeback, Maki just turned and gave Nico a brief smile. "Yeah, I guess it is."

They were quiet for a bit. Some birds chirped. Maki took another breath.

"I'm still taking you up on that ice cream, you know."

* * *

Nico leaned back in the wooden chair. "I hope you know how disgusted I am, by the way."

Maki made a face. "About what? It's just ice cream."

"Yeah, but really? You asked for the _plain_ cone. You didn't even want the chocolate dip on it! What's wrong with you?!" Nico feigned a dramatic death. "Don't you have any idea how much this hurts me?"

She shrugged. "Don't whine. I know you were probably just going to mooch off my cone anyways."

"I'm offended," Nico sniffed. "I'll have you know I was actually planning on taking some of your ice cream, but you got mint chip, so it won't taste good with mine."

"Then I made the right choices."

"Rude." Nico mumbled, but dropped it at that. Her ice cream was the superior flavor anyways – pink bubblegum. She busied herself with it, trying to see if she could beat Maki in finishing it. Once she got to the cone, taking a few pieces off, she looked up to see if she was winning.

Maki was staring at her curiously (also, Nico _was_ , in fact, winning). She cocked an eyebrow. "What?"

Blinking as if she'd just realized Nico was talking to her, Maki shrugged. "Nothing, I just….."

With little warning, she leaned in, kissing Nico on the tip of her nose. Then she leaned as far back into her chair as she could and looked off to the side, blushing.

Nico sputtered. "Wh- what's with that suddenness?! At least give me some warning..!" It was one thing to be caught off guard like that, but it was another for her to be out-romanced.

"You had something on your nose," Maki muttered intelligently, still looking as if she wanted to sink into the floor. "That's all."

"You could have just told me…." She replied, trailing off.

Maki sunk even further into her chair. "…I wanted to give you a kiss."

Unbelievable. Nico rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but think it was cute. "Hey. Look up, would you?"

When Maki cautiously followed the instruction, Nico planted a kiss of her own on the other girl's cheek. "There, now we're even."

If possible, Maki became more flustered. She didn't say anything for a while, but Nico was used to the silences now – and they gave her more time to think.

"Hey, Nico?" Maki said, finally.

"Yeah?"

She stopped for a moment, like she was working the words over in her head. "Do you think after today stuff will be less…." Another pause. "Chaotic, for us? You know, since we've pretty much gotten all the weird and hard stuff out of the way." She spun some hair around a finger.

Nico let out a short laugh. Shrugged. "Probably not." She looked over at Maki, who was still playing with her hair. "Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah," She replied, looking directly at Nico. "I mean, I _guess._ Not that I care, or anything." She was grinning.

Nico scoffed. "You tsundere _loser_ ," She groaned, playfully batting at the other girl's arm. "I can't believe we're dating."

"It's not like I like you or anything," Maki continued, still insistently trying to reach across the table. Nico shot her an offended look.

"What? How could you not like the amazing Nico-nico-nii?" She gasped in mock offense. And maybe a little bit of real offense.

Maki shrugged. "Maybe I'm playing hard to get?"

"We're already dating!" She protested. Maki shrugged again. "Ugh. I have to do everything myself, since you're clearly too embarrassed to say it." She crossed her arms. "….I love you." She mumbled, embarrassed a little bit herself, for all the show she was making of saying it.

"Love you too."

Maki's ice cream ended up melting onto the table, but neither of them really seemed to notice.

* * *

 **AN: Linebreaks are perfect for when u cant make things dramatic but you have to for the Story,,, god im so sorry for the linebreak abuse in the early part of the chapter hahaha,,,hah...but, aside from that, I'm pretty happy with this chapter! I think that finishing off the story with some good old fashioned tooth rotting fluff is just what it called for. I tried to wrap up the bigger loose ends for each character, but idk,, im sure i missed some things lmao. It's kinda tough to finish the story, but who knows, maybe i'll come back to the AU for a one shot sometime ;) . I did have a pretty funny one lined up in case I ever had the motivation to write it, haha.**

 **Alright,,now for the sappy part...this was a really big project for me and I really, sincerely appreciate everyone who read and enjoyed the story. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to do it, and thanks even more for all the feedback and support! I really hope this was something worth reading for all of you, and I hope I was able to finish off strong. I'm sure I left some plot holes, and I know that the quality could be spotty at times, but I think overall, it's pretty good. So for real, thank you! I hope all of you have a great day!**

 **see you soon, hopefully!**


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